Mobile firms are targeting parents as figures from Carphone Warehouse reveal that nine out of ten 12-year-olds have a handset.

Providers now offer a plethora of tariffs aimed at parents who pay for their children’s mobiles, and they are also playing on safety fears to sell their latest handsets.

Finnish firm Benefon will shortly launch a new phone called a Twig, which will have a “panic button” that sends a text including a satellite location to a pre-defined phone number when pressed. The device, which is fitted with GPS navigation, is aimed at people who worry that their children could run into trouble and out of credit on their mobile while away from home.

Parents who want to know where their children are at all times will also be able to use the phone to track their offspring — as long as both they and the child have one of the new phones.

Paul Ferron of Mobileshop, a mobile-phone and tariff comparison website said: “The phones are being made by a satellite-navigation company and will be a good option for parents who want to be able to keep tabs on their children.”

It is generally parents who pick up phones bills for their children. Almost half of parents questioned in a Carphone Warehouse survey said they paid their children’s mobile bills, while a further 22 per cent shared the cost.

Many parents prefer to use pay-as-you-go deals as a means of controlling how much their children spend on mobile phone calls and texts, but this can be an expensive option and there are ways to control contract mobile spending too.

Ferron said: “You can only get a mobile-phone contract if you are 18 or over, so parents have to either get a contract in their name or use pay-as-you-go.

“The second option gives them total control over how much their children spend — unless the child spends his or her own money on a top-up — but handsets are much more expensive on pay-as-you-go. The latest phones will set you back £100 or more, while they are much cheaper, or even free, when you sign up to a contract.”

Perhaps the easiest way for parents to control their children’s phone usage on a contract basis is to set a monthly spending limit, which can be done on most contracts.

The only problem with this is that children cannot use their own money to buy more phone time if they exceed their monthly limit.

One option that has proved popular with both parents and teenagers is T-Mobile’s Ufix tariff, which is a hybrid of a contract deal and pay-as-you-go.

With Ufix, parents can opt to pay £15, £20 or £25 a month on either anytime or off-peak deals on a contract basis, but children can also use their own money to put more credit on the phone.

Ferron said: “If you go for, say, a £15-a-month Ufix tariff, the only way the child can spend more is by investing in a pay-as-you-go top-up.”

You get a choice between whether calls are charged at an anytime rate — meaning calls made during working hours are less expensive — or an off-peak deal that works out cheaper for those who make more calls at weekends and in the evenings.

Parents of children who prefer texting to calling can also opt for a Texter tariff that includes more texts but fewer call minutes.

Other contract tariffs suitable for children include T-Mobile’s Flext, which costs from £20 a month and charges for all calls at a standard rate, and O2’s Leisure 1000, which includes 1,000 free minutes and 100 free texts for £25 a month.

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