Broadband ISP TalkTalk Issue Trading Update and Hints at New UK WiFi Product
The heavily indebted TalkTalk Group, which has recently been going through another turbulent period due to payment disputes with suppliers and reports of a possible sale (here, here and here), has today published a fairly limited Q1 FY26 trading update to 31st May 2025 that attempts to highlight the positives and hints at a new home Wi-Fi proposition.
According to the trading update, the TalkTalk Group has delivered a “quarter of solid strategic progress, with the Group performing in line with management’s expectations“. The internet provider now claims to be “focused on simplifying systems, launching innovative product offerings, and advancing the next phase of its strategic turnaround.”
Q1 FY26 Highlights
➤ Revenue of £341m, underpinned by continued investment in cash-generative activities
➤ Gross margin of £141m (Q1/25 £149m), achieved against highly competitive market backdrop
➤ Successful completion of phase one transformation and separation of Consumer and PXC units
➤ Ongoing cost efficiencies and non-core disposals
➤ EBITDA (pre-IFRS) of £37m (Q1/25 £48m, which included one off benefits of £21m, so an underlying increase of £10m vs prior year) following successful operational separation of the TalkTalk Consumer and PXC businesses, and investment in operational transformation.
➤ Cost reduction initiatives remain on track, with efficiencies achieved across headline and legacy costs and completion of non-core disposals
➤ PXC delivering next generation connectivity products at scale with accelerated transition to fibre-only network
The update also states that TalkTalk’s consumer broadband ISP business is now “focused on customer retention and migration to Kraken platform“, as well as the development of a “pioneering” new in-home Wi-Fi proposition, which is due to launch “later this year“.
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Speculation on the above may well point to an improved mesh WiFi solution with Wi-Fi 7 capability – possibly accompanied by new broadband packages, although nothing has yet been confirmed. But it will take a lot more than better WiFi to turn things around.
James Smith, CEO of TalkTalk Group, said:
“We’ve made important strategic progress during the quarter, delivering financial performance in line with our expectations. We’ve hugely simplified what we do as a business and how we deliver it, taking out significant cost and automating our processes.
We are now ready to move to the next phase of launching exciting new product sets across the TalkTalk Consumer and PXC businesses, that will differentiate us in the market and enable us to maintain market share and drive profitability.
We remain firmly focused on disciplined investment and free cashflow generation, with strong support from our financial stakeholders to deliver our ambitious plans.”
The trading update is sadly absent of many key details, such as their latest customer and debt figures etc.
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, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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TalkTalk, accentuating the positives, problems? — what problems?
TalkTalk now to focus on customer retention, think that boat may have sailed. Maybe they can use AI Nice too help out!
“the Group performing in line with management’s expectations”
Nice choice of wording. The management have an insiders view as to what’s going on, and have set their expectations accordingly.
No doubt another “wifi is an extra subscription” type product on top of the broadband cost. I still wouldn’t touch them.
I’d rather have a product with no modem, router etc. and a cheaper price. I can buy a better device that will last longer and not crash. Plus it’s less e-waste.
Of course I recognise the general public equate ISP = WiFi and expect a router, plus they can’t or won’t do there own configuration. But perhaps it could be an option.
and yet this website’s own forum has tons of threads that explain precisely why almost all ISPs prefer to supply a router that they can trust to work correctly with their service, and leaving everything else to the user to pursue at their own risk.
ISP supplied equipment generally works fine for the masses and is increasingly competitive on performance (eg, where would you have got a wifi 7 tri band + 2.5G LAN/WAN router at a reasonable cost at around the time EE launched theirs?). “better” and “will not crash” are also quite debatable with some of these 3rd party brands.
I agree with you Ben, or at least give people the choice, but then would it really knock that much of the price per month.
The ONT which is the fibre equivalent of a modem has to be installed by the provider, so no choice on that, but the router, I think we should have a choice.
Yes, I understand why they supply their own routers, to make it easier to sort out problems, but some of them are so bloated BT routers for a start and have been for years. Their smart set up is a pain in the neck and is more hassle than it is worth, I turn it off for people who have problems or talk them though it.
Just glad my provider turn a blind eye to me using my own router. They don’t recommend it, but don’t have a problem with me using it, I suppose as long as i pay each month.
It’s not worth the development cost to offer a service without a modem/router. ISPs would have to spend say £25k developing this product through all the customer journeys, for about 100 customers per year to take this option. The cost would outweigh the benefits for the ISPs.
Plus the ISP would have the headache of what happens if a customer used a modem which wasn’t MCT certified. ISPs are obligated as per the Openreach contract to ensure only modems which are MCT certified are used – how would ISPs enforce that?
May ISPs have diagnostics software embedded in their routers to help with diagnostics – so if there was a fault, diagnostics for the ISP would be harder.
Yes, a small number of customers (including me) would like this product, but it’s simply too niche to be a viable product for the large ISPs at present.
This new Wi-Fi product, (whatever it turns out to be) seems like a distraction from what’s really going on at TalkTalk!
I wonder if their ” new wifi system” will be like their updated TV system. More expensive with less facilities and usb sticks to record on as it’s not fitted with a hard drive. It could be the same as You Fibre. A basic modem which needs repeaters in other rooms which you have to pay for monthly on top of your subscription. Time to go fully mobile I think.
Talk talk have only told me in an email today that I have bee taken over by untaila wherehouse no warning at all wish they had said something sooner ever though they told me this morning it happened in June the 30th an now only been told on 18th July it’s a bit late news
If it’s another eero product, they can keep it, because they’re about as useful as chocolate teapots. Want to control what Wi-Fi channel your router uses? You can’t. Instead, you have to wait 24 to 48 hours for it to maybe change on its own, and even then, there’s a good chance it will choose another bad channel.
TalkTalks community forums were filled with issues like the above when they partnered with eero, and their staff (e.g., Chris, Karl, Debbie) would do their best to help people via remote management. But in April, TalkTalk fired all of them and immediately replaced them with AI, which basically killed their online support, since the AI can’t access remote management and just links to generic “helpful” articles and posts that you could probably find on your own with a quick search.