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ISP TalkTalk to Start Shifting UK MVNO Mobile Customers Back to O2

Wednesday, Jan 24th, 2018 (8:22 am) - Score 5,160

Budget broadband ISP TalkTalk has confirmed that customers of their existing Mobile platform will, at the end of their current contract(s), be given the choice of either switching to a completely different Mobile operator or taking out a special deal on one of O2’s plans.

The move was first hinted at in September 2017 (here), when the provider confirmed they were preparing to exit the Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) game and would instead adopt a “low touch” retail arrangement with another major mobile operator. At the time TalkTalk said that such a move would enable them to “continue to offer a compelling mobile service to all our broadband customers.”

Now MSE has spotted that the ISP recently began informing users that they would be discontinuing their own mobile platform as expected and had “got our customers a great value mobile offer from O2.” Essentially those who reach the end of their Mobile contract will now be able to either switch to a different operator or go with O2 and benefit from a discount off the operator’s SIM-only 4G plans (including all the usual O2 benefits).

Obviously the special discount only applies if you remain a customer of TalkTalk’s home broadband and phone services. New TalkTalk subscribers will also be able to take advantage of the same O2 discount. One other advantage is that TalkTalk’s old plans only supported 3G, while O2 will give you a faster 4G connection (where available). Customers can contact TalkTalk for free on 0345 172 0044 to discuss this.

A Spokesperson for TalkTalk said:

“As part of TalkTalk’s simplification, we’re changing how we offer mobile services. This agreement with O2 gives TalkTalk customers access to a wider range of great value 4G services.

It’s great news for customers and allows TalkTalk to continue investing in our fixed network, delivering even better landline, broadband and TV services.”

The news should hopefully draw a line under a long and complicated history. The ISP first launched their own mobile service via an MVNO agreement with Vodafone in 2010, which lasted for a few years until they alleged that Vodafone were “withdrawing entirely from the MVNO market” and had “terminated TalkTalk’s MVNO agreement without warning” (here). Vodafone denied this and said the decision to terminate “was not made” by them.

As a result TalkTalk ended up signing a new MVNO deal with O2 in 2015 (here) and at the time they said this was a “major step forward in our long term strategy to build a small cell and Fibre-To-The-Premise (FTTP) network. Coupled with our own in-home 4G spectrum.

However the provider faced multiple challenges in attempting to migrate customers onto O2’s platform and they also ditched their long-running plan for a 4G enabled home broadband router. The latter is understood to have cost them about £49 million. More recently TalkTalk has moved back to their roots by re-focusing upon low cost fixed line broadband and phone services, which is a strategy that seems to be working.

One potential issue is that some customers have reported being unable to get the discount from O2 (others say they got about 25% off) and that O2 staff were not aware of the offer. Hopefully that situation has improved but needless to say that it’s worth shopping around to see what else is available before committing.

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Mark-Jackson
By Mark Jackson
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and .
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Comments
2 Responses
  1. Washed up network im being charged to leave. My internet has been down for 8 weeks

  2. Avatar photo Matt says:

    TalkTalk mobile has sounded like more trouble to anyone than good…

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