Sky Begin Advanced Migration Notifications to Selected BE Broadband Users

Selected customers of BE Broadband have over the past couple of weeks started to receive the first advanced migration notification letters from Sky Broadband (BSkyB) and most have only been given one month to decide whether or not they wish to leave.

The latest letter follows on from Sky’s £180m+ acquisition of O2 and BE Broadband’s fixed line home broadband and phone customers earlier this year (here and here). The phased process of migrating several hundred thousand customers, in small groups, over to Sky’s platform is now slowly getting underway.

Customers in the first “small groups” are now beginning to receive the migration notifications, which outline what they’ll be paying, how the process will work and include an indication of the expected timescale. So far most of the recipients on the BE Broadband side of the fence appear to have been customers with dynamic IP addresses but not everybody is happy.

Some BE subscribers complain that the replacement Sky Broadband Unlimited and or Sky Talk service actually works out to be more expensive than their current package and others are frustrated because they’ve only been given one month to make a decision, which is easier said than done when the demand comes right at the start of a busy Christmas period.

Customers who receive the message and whom wish to accept Sky’s Offer are told to “simply carry on paying for your existing services” and Sky will then “assume from your next payment for your existing services following 5th Dec, that you agree to move on these terms.” But many subscribers had been expecting a full two month notice period in order to make their decision.

A spokesperson for Sky Broadband told ISPreview.co.uk that BE Broadband customers were being provided with “2 months’ advance notice of their transfer” but admitted that only around one month of that was set aside for customers to discuss their options with Sky and decide whether or not to stay or switch to a different ISP. As above the final month is where Sky automatically makes the decision for you depending upon whether or not the next payment is taken.

As previously reported Sky also said that it would move customers to the “nearest equivalent or better” Sky package wherever possible and would try to match or beat the customers’ current combined home broadband and phone (where applicable) subscription price (note: they won’t have to take Sky Talk, Sky Line Rental or Sky TV if they only have home broadband from O2/BE). Similarly the operator said that they would only ask customers to sign a new minimum contract term if they chose to take-up one of Sky’s earlier special offers to switch sooner.

Sky currently plans to have moved all customers over to their platform by Spring 2014 and the first groups from BE should be switched during January or February 2014. However BTOpenreach’s engineering teams are often slowed over Christmas and that could further hamper migrations for those choosing not to stay with Sky.