Booker has frozen the price of phone cards despite a nationwide price increase imposed by the mobile phone companies last November. Vodafone, Orange and Cellnet have been met by a furious backlash from independents who said there were acting like a “cartel”. But Booker has managed to negotiate a deal putting off the price rise for another month. Marketing director Steven Sharp said: “We wanted to offer customers the chance to stock up on phone cards over the next few weeks.” When the deadline is up Booker will be reviewing the price of phone cards with a view to extending the deal.