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Mobile giant Vodafone UK and Sky (Comcast) have reportedly two among several "groups" that have approached budget conscious fixed broadband ISP TalkTalk about a potential deal (most likely an acquisition), which in theory could create a much larger provider with more influence over the industry. Just to recap. In 2020 TalkTalk became the subject of a £1.1bn takeover by Toscafund - controlled by hedge fund tycoon Martin Hughes (here), which including debt valued the broadband provider at around £1.8bn. The deal took the ISP private and gave them more financial flexibility for their future plans. Since then, they've backed Freedom Fibre (here) and this week made the notable acquisition of Ethernet provider Virtual1 (here). According to the FT (paywall) and Sky News, TalkTalk is now said to have asked investment bank Lazard to review its options after allegedly being approach by several groups, including Vodafone and Sky (Sky Broadband). Lazard is a logical choice as they recently acted as Financial Advisor to TalkTalk on the Virtual1 transaction. Some industry analysts have reportedly suggested that TalkTalk itself could now be worth "at least" £3bn. But this seems rather optimistic for an ISP that doesn't have any significant fixed line broadband infrastructure to call its own (excluding their old unbundled LLU network) and largely just piggybacks off Openreach (BT), CityFibre and Freedom Fibre. But TalkTalk do have a strong business and wholesale side. Funnily enough, Sky Broadband are in a similar position with their own fixed line base, while Vodafone also likes to piggyback off Openreach and CityFibre. At present, Vodafone has a fixed broadband base of 991,000 customers, while Sky Broadband is estimated to be home to around 6.7 million and TalkTalk has approximately 4.2 million. Suffice to say, anybody gobbling up TalkTalk would instantly become a much larger provider, giving them a greater say in how the UK broadband market develops and more opportunities for convergence (Vodafone with mobile, and Sky with mobile and TV). Crucially, TalkTalk's consumer base is mostly made up of those on older copper and hybrid fibre lines (i.e. ADSL and FTTC / VDSL2), which are ripe for a future migration to FTTP. At the time of writing, all of the aforementioned operators have decline to comment on the reports, and TalkTalk has yet to receive any serious formal offers. In other words, we strongly suspect that this is largely just an exercise in spin to help TalkTalk drum up some more productive interest in the idea. But at the same time, it's not unreasonable to suspect that they might succeed, as the interest seems genuine. On the other hand, we see reports like this every year or so and only a very few ever convert into a serious offer. Time will tell. Much may depend upon whether or not TalkTalk’s new owners are more flexible and pragmatic about doing a deal than the previous lot. Arguably, TalkTalk might have gone much further by now had they taken some different decisions a few years ago (e.g. co-investing in FTTP instead of Pay TV).

Complaints Prompt UK ISP TalkTalk to Suspend Doorstep Sellers in Newcastle

17th Aug, 2023 (4 Comments)

Budget focused broadband ISP TalkTalk has “suspended all door-to-door sales activity” in the Newcastle area after residents complained about cold calling occurring in parts of the city designated as a No Cold Calling Zone (NCCZ), which should be fairly self-explanatory to everybody, if not so much the sellers themselves, apparently.

EE and BT TV Customers to Lose AMC Channel Next Month

17th Aug, 2023 (12 Comments)

Customers of UK broadband ISP BT and EE, specifically those taking their pay TV platform, may be unhappy to learn that the provider will be removing the premium AMC channel, and all catch up content, from all BT TV platforms from 28th September 2023 next month.

The Top UK Locations by Alternative Full Fibre Network Cover

16th Aug, 2023 (6 Comments)

The latest independent data from Thinkbroadband‘s database has revealed that alternative full fibre (FTTP) broadband ISP networks (AltNets) now cover over a quarter (25.14%) of the UK, which is up from 23.64% at the end of June 2023. In terms of the top 10 locations where such networks dominate, Peterborough (84%) comes first.

Job Losses Strike UK Full Fibre ISP Truespeed as Build Expected to Slow

16th Aug, 2023 (38 Comments)

Sad news today as another alternative builder of full fibre broadband, Truespeed, has confirmed to ISPreview that a good chunk of its workforce are now facing redundancy (possibly c. 150) and the rollout of their 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to homes in the South West of England is due to slow.

MS3 Works to Offset Carbon Footprint of UK Broadband Network

16th Aug, 2023 (15 Comments)

Hull-based network builder MS3, which is working to roll out a 10Gbps capable full fibre (FTTP) broadband ISP network to cover 500,000 premises across the North of England by the end of 2025 (here), has today announced a partnership with Carbon Neutral Britain (CNB) to help them “offset their carbon footprints“.

ASA Bans Ads for UK ISP 6G Internet Over 6G Mobile Confusion

16th Aug, 2023 (22 Comments)

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned several adverts for UK fixed wireless broadband ISP 6G Internet (IX Wireless) after they were found to have caused confusing by “misleadingly implying that a sixth-generation mobile network existed and was able to be used by consumers.” Awkward.

Business ISP Connectus Secure Safe Contractor Accreditation for Fibre Build

15th Aug, 2023 (4 Comments)

Business focused UK ISP and Managed Service Provider (MSP) Connectus, which is also busy building a gigabit-capable full fibre broadband network to several sites, has been awarded Safe Contractor accreditation following a lengthy and detailed audit of all their existing safety systems.

Truespeed Grows Full Fibre Cover to 91,000 Premises in England

15th Aug, 2023 (29 Comments)

Rural UK broadband ISP Truespeed, which is deploying a 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to homes in the South West of England (mostly in Devon, Wiltshire and Somerset), has revealed that they’ve now covered 91,000 premises (up from 75k in May 2023) and have over 17,000 customers (up from 15k).

Survey Claims Majority of Brits Won’t Share WiFi with Neighbours

15th Aug, 2023 (19 Comments)

A new survey of over 1,000 UK people, which was conducted by ExpressVPN, has found that 59% of respondents do not trust their neighbours with access to their home broadband ISP network via Wi-Fi and seemingly for good reasons – linked to privacy and security. But we assume this means 41% would still trust their neighbours.

Business Broadband ISP 4Com Acquire Another UK Telecoms Rival

15th Aug, 2023 (1 Comment)

Bournemouth-based communications, IT and broadband provider 4Com has recently been on somewhat of an acquisition spree, acquiring seven businesses over the past 16 months, and they’ve this week agreed their 8th purchase by acquiring part of FutureTel‘s (FT Security Systems Ltd) customer base for an undisclosed sum.

Streaming Giant Netflix Begins UK Cloud Gaming Beta Test

15th Aug, 2023 (10 Comments)

Internet video stream giant Netflix has continued its steady move into the video gaming market this week by launching a “limited beta test” of their new remote play cloud gaming service, which is currently only available to a “small number” of broadband using customers in the United Kingdom and Canada on selected TVs.

UK ISP Plusnet Scrap Phone – Launch Standalone FTTC Broadband UPDATE

15th Aug, 2023 (36 Comments)

Budget broadband ISP Plusnet has today finally launched a SOGEA powered Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC / VDSL2) package, which is a standalone broadband connection that removes the accompanying phone service. Sadly, the provider still shows no sign of offering existing customers a digital (IP-based) phone solution.

Chairman of London Full Fibre ISP G.Network Resigns as Biz Seeks Turnaround UPDATE

14th Aug, 2023 (22 Comments)

Credible sources have informed ISPreview that the Chairman of London-focused UK ISP and broadband network builder G.Network, Sean Williams, has resigned after nearly five years in the post. The experienced chair is set to be replaced by Ian Gray, who appears to be a specialist in turning struggling businesses around.

Cable Thieves Leave Oxfordshire UK Village Offline for Nearly 2 Weeks

14th Aug, 2023 (23 Comments)

Some 400 homes across the rural Oxfordshire (England) village of Ardington have been left disconnected from their broadband and phone services for almost two weeks, which occurred after criminals stole more than 500 metres of underground copper cable from Openreach’s local network.

UK ISP Sky Business Sniff Possible Acquisition of TalkTalk B2B Division

14th Aug, 2023 (8 Comments)

A new report claims that Sky Broadband’s business division, Sky Business (formerly Sky Connect), has joined Daisy Group and a couple of other interested parties in potentially gobbling up TalkTalk’s business-to-business arm (TT Business Direct Limited) within the next month or two, which is predicted to attract a value of around £150m.

Broadband ISP Virgin Media O2 UK Still Non-committal on IPv6

14th Aug, 2023 (35 Comments)

Seven years have now passed since broadband ISP Virgin Media (VMO2) first informed us that they finally planned to adopt the Internet Protocol v6 (IPv6) addressing standard by mid-2017 (here) and we’re still waiting. Customers of the provider keep asking us for a progress update, but sadly the answer remains unclear.

Full Fibre Confusion Continues for TalkTalk Users in Rural Cheshire

13th Aug, 2023 (12 Comments)

A few months ago we reported (here) on how residents in two Cheshire villages had been mistakenly been told by UK ISP TalkTalk that their full fibre (FTTP) broadband service – under the old UltraFibreOptic (UFO) platform – was about to be disconnected. But unfortunately, the provider seems not to have learnt its lesson.