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Articles for Category Tag - TalkTalk

Ofcom 2022 Study Rates Mobile and Broadband ISPs by Quality

18th May, 2022 (0 Comments)

Ofcom has published their 2022 survey of UK broadband ISP and mobile service quality, call waiting times, complaints and install times among the largest providers. For example, Vodafone attracted the lowest satisfaction for broadband (77%), while BT secured the highest (88%). But overall, service quality has improved since COVID-19.

Ofcom UK Propose Small Improvements to Broadband Speed Code

11th May, 2022 (14 Comments)

Ofcom has proposed to tweak their 2019 voluntary Code of Practice for Broadband ISP Speeds, which will extend the current ‘Right to Exit‘ (i.e. when an ISP fails to correct a problem with broadband speeds) to the latest definition of service bundles. It will also require FTTP and cable ISPs to provide details on observed line speeds.

Censorship Blocked Website Message by UK ISP

Future UK Trade Deals May Add Piracy Website Blocks by ISPs

9th May, 2022 (15 Comments)

In a sign of things to come, it’s interesting to note that the recent free trade agreement between Australia and the United Kingdom included measures that require both sides to provide injunctive relief for website blocking by broadband ISPs – targeted at sites that are found to be facilitating internet copyright infringement (piracy).

TalkTalk Prep UK Digital Voice Service and Wi-Fi Hub 2 Router

7th May, 2022 (31 Comments)

Budget home broadband ISP TalkTalk appears to be getting closer to launching their own take on a Digital Voice (VoIP) product to replace analogue phone services, which will come alongside a number of connectivity options. One of those will also include the introduction of a new ‘Wi-Fi Hub 2‘ router.

End of Contract Letters by UK Broadband ISPs Boost Re-Contracting

6th May, 2022 (9 Comments)

Ofcom has today posted some additional analysis on the impact of their End-of-Contract Notifications (ECN) system, which reveals that customer re-contracting on major broadband ISPs has increased as a result of its introduction – varying from a rise of 13% on Plusnet to just 3% on TalkTalk.

CoD Pushes TalkTalk Broadband Traffic to New 8.71 Tbps Record UPDATE

28th April, 2022 (17 Comments)

Internet traffic across UK broadband ISPs surged last night as people tuned in to stream the Champions League semi-final and to download the latest 40GB (GigaByte) ‘Season 3’ update for the popular ‘Call of Duty Warzone’ video game. As a result, TalkTalk set a new peak traffic record of 8.715Tbps (Terabits per second).

CityFibre to Start GBP17m FTTP Broadband Rollout in Kettering

28th April, 2022 (1 Comment)

CityFibre has today confirmed that they will invest £17 million to rollout a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network across the North Northamptonshire (England) town of Kettering, which is set to begin sometime in “early May” 2022.

Consumers-Complaints-for-Ofcom-UK-via-Smartphone

Shell Energy Takes Flak in Q4 2021 Study of UK Broadband Complaints

27th April, 2022 (8 Comments)

Ofcom’s latest Q4 2021 (calendar) study of UK consumer complaints has named Shell Energy as attracting the most gripes for fixed broadband services, while TalkTalk did the same for landline phone and Virgin Mobile took flak for Pay Monthly mobile services. Finally, Virgin Media (VMO2) were on the naughty step for Pay TV.

Broadband ISP Plusnet UK Sweeps the 2022 Expert Reviews Awards

13th April, 2022 (23 Comments)

Consumer site Expert Reviews has posted the winners of their annual ‘Best Broadband Awards 2022‘ event, which surveyed consumers in an effort to identify the top UK Internet Service Providers (ISP) across a range of different categories. The overall winner this year was Plusnet.

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).

Vodafone and Sky Sniffing Possible Acquisition of UK ISP TalkTalk

8th April, 2022 (40 Comments)

Mobile giant Vodafone UK and Sky (Comcast) are 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.

ISP TalkTalk Acquires UK High Bandwidth Wholesalers Virtual1

4th April, 2022 (7 Comments)

UK broadband ISP TalkTalk has today given their business and wholesale connectivity division a boost by entering into an agreement to acquire Virtual1 for an undisclosed sum. The deal will help to grow their scale as a national provider of Ethernet (EAD / leased line) solutions and to strengthen its capabilities.

Broadband ISP TalkTalk Confirms Huge Annual UK Price Hikes

24th March, 2022 (29 Comments)

Customers of UK ISP TalkTalk have in the last week or so started to receive notification emails that confirm the provider’s intention to hike their broadband and phone prices by 9.1% (average) from 1st April 2022, which is something that we first predicted back in January (here) due to the surging levels of inflation.

Broadband ISP TalkTalk UK Launch Netgem Powered TV 4K Box

21st March, 2022 (23 Comments)

Budget conscious UK ISP TalkTalk has today finally made their new Netgem powered pay TV (IPTV) platform and “TV 4K Box” device available to both new and existing customers on their fibre broadband plans (FTTC and FTTP). On top of that, the provider also claims to be the “first ISP in Europe” to launch TikTok on a TV set-top-box.

Frustration in Swindon UK as CityFibre Keep Blocking Driveways

14th March, 2022 (15 Comments)

CityFibre’s £40m investment to deploy a new 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network across the Wiltshire town of Swindon, which began in late 2020 (here), has in recent weeks generated a few complaints after contractors blocked some residents inside their homes – often without prior notice.

Business UK ISP Plan.com Signs TalkTalk Wholesale Deal

8th March, 2022 (0 Comments)

Business communications provider Plan.com has today signed a new partnership deal with TalkTalk’s Wholesale Services division, which will enable them to broaden their existing product options with more choice of broadband services on their my.plan platform.

ISPs BT and TalkTalk Sign UK TV Deal to Keep YouView Until 2024 UPDATE

4th March, 2022 (17 Comments)

Broadband ISPs BT and TalkTalk look set to keep their respective YouView based TV services running until March 2024 after they reached a new Shareholder Agreement with the platform’s other Joint Venture partners in the broadcasting sector, including ITV, the BBC, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

Openreach Engineer Next to Fallen Tree 2022

Storm Eunice Strikes and Causes Damage to UK Telecoms Networks

18th February, 2022 (14 Comments)

Storm Eunice struck the UK today, bringing with it winds gusting up to 80-90mph across large parts of South England and Wales, as well as rain, high seas and – in some parts of Scotland – heavy snowfall. The event has unsurprisingly also caused damage to telecoms (broadband and mobile) infrastructure, resulting in outages.