O2 Wholesale UK Announce Plans to Close Broadband Platform

Mobile operator O2 UK (Telefonica) has confirmed that its O2/BE Wholesale platform, which was retained after Sky (Sky Broadband) gobbled up the providers fixed line broadband and phone customers earlier this year, will now be closed in February 2014.

According to a statement gathered by Thinkbroadband, the operator didn’t appear to feel as if there was enough demand or interest in its platform to warrant continued investment. The unbundled (LLU) platform is used by a number of ISPs to supply both business and consumer services.

An O2Wholesale Spokesperson said:

“We can confirm that as of February 2014 we will no longer offer wholesale broadband services. The delivery of fibre broadband currently requires a level of scale and investment which does not fit with our strategy to focus on digital services and experiences.”

The move isn’t hugely surprising and the platform has suffered a number of problems, such as capacity woes, over the past year. As a result many ISPs have switched to alternatives like Vodafone (C&W), BT or TalkTalk Wholesale, among others.