Fears Grow of More Job Losses at UK ISP Origin Broadband
Over the past couple of weeks a number of sources have contacted ISPreview.co.uk to alleged that Doncaster-based budget ISP Origin Broadband may be in the process of conducting a new redundancy consultation, which it’s claimed could result in the further loss of around 20 to 30 jobs.
At present Origin, which in January 2018 announced (here) a number of redundancies after going through a multi-million pound private investment fuelled growth spurt (to “create a more agile and sustainable business for future growth“), is believed to employ more than 100 people (the last official figure at the start of this year was 149).
Now some of those who first informed us about the original redundancy situation earlier this year have been back in contact again to claim that another round of job losses may be imminent, which they say could be confirmed by around mid-December 2018 (possibly a cost cutting move).
We have been attempting to get a comment from Origin Broadband since last week and were initially told by their marketing manager that they had been unable to find anybody who could give us a statement, although we were promised an update. Since then we have tried several times to secure an update but have so far been met with silence.
The situation, if confirmed, would come shortly after the ISP opted to give some of their customers just 30 days’ notice to find a new ISP before being disconnected due to a “network restructure outside of our control” (here). At the time Origin said that this only affected a “very small percentage of users” and some sources alleged that around 3,000 to 4,000 subscribers may have received the notice.
The company’s most recent accounts (next one due Dec 2018), which covered the year to the end of March 2017 (here), revealed that Origin generated a loss for the period of -£2.15m (compared with -£1.23m in 2015). This was attributed to their “ongoing investment in headcount, premises and infrastructure needed to support a growing level of sales,” which they hoped would eventually move them into more positive territory.
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 Linkedin.
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It’s interesting how a notice can be served to customers giving them just 30 days to source a new provider. Is that in keeping with industry code of practice?
As the telecoms industry as matured we now see things like the USO which is meant to reflect the important, indeed the necessity, of a connection to the internet.
Ofgem guarantees customers continuity of supply in the event the customer’s utility company ceases trading or is forced to shed customers. Why then, given that it is recognised as a necessity, are similar protections not in place for broadband internet customers.
30 days isn’t a great deal of time to source a new provider especially when you consider that choosing one involves a commitment to what will probably be a min 12 month contract. Also, if you signed up to Origin and have been with them for say 4 months out of your 12 and they do this, do they have to pay you reparations for defaulting on their contractual obligations in the same way you would have to pay them if you cancelled early?
As ADSL continues to decline (where alternatives exist) many ISPs will withdraw their own infrastructure as it becomes uncommercial with customers forced to move to whatever is offered within their Post Code. The larger ISPs will manage their own but clearly this ISP can’t make OR services work for them otherwise they would user that option. Turning away custom is never good.
All Ofgem would do is allocate you to another supplier on your behalf based on current tariff comparison. The Ofcom rules of 30 days notice where the terms of service change and allowing you to choose your next ISP is probably better. Although it might just happen when none of the “offers” are about and assumes you are on OR. If you are changing to another network provider you may be hit by substantial upfront costs as well as possibly higher tariffs.
The future issue for broadband is that as we move to FTTP some customers may have a fixed ISP or a small selection of ISPs to choose from increasing the impact of any ISP changing their service offering.
I am an origin customer and in the last 6 -7 months there has been a notable drop in both the quality of service and the quality of customer service.
As of today my landline has been down for 16 days. Mind you to be fair it’s a BT issue underground and they are very slowly working at it.nbew copper from the pole… new dropper to my premises, box box on wall but….. work had to be done under the road and they had to apply to the council to get access. The BT engineer commented on the woeful quality of the copper in general.
It’s just a shame that the OFCOM regulations on automatic compensation haven’t kicked in yet or i’d be quids in! It’d be 128 GBP and rising at £8 per day compo for down service and 20 for a missed engineer appointment.
they have promised to compensate me though but i have the feeling it’ll be some pro-rated nonsense and they promised to pay towards my mobile tethering while the problem is being resolved. but we will see.
Not really a surprise, no money, underqualified staff, this thats happening now is going to be worse than a few people made redundant. Owe £thousands all over. This company WILL fold
I was a happy business customer of Origin for about 2 years until mid 2017… I had 8 static IP’s and they changed the infrastructure without warning… gave me one dynamic IP and told me there was nothing that could be done about it.. had to move my business to AWS for a while while I was waiting for a new connection from another ISP 😐