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Articles for Category Tag - TalkTalk

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 (27 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.

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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.

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Ofcom Shames UK ISP TalkTalk and Shell in Q3 2021 Complaints Study

8th February, 2022 (10 Comments)

Ofcom has today published their latest Q3 2021 (calendar) consumer complaints study, which identified both TalkTalk and Shell Energy as the providers that attracted the most gripes for fixed broadband services, while TalkTalk also took flak for landline phone services and iD Mobile came top for Mobile moans.

CityFibre to Start GBP42m FTTP Broadband Rollout in Gateshead UPDATE

19th January, 2022 (1 Comment)

CityFibre has today announced that they’ve appointed civil engineering contractor GCU UK Ltd to lead the £42m rollout of a new 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network across the large North East England town of Gateshead (Tyne and Wear) and South Tyneside, which sits just over the River Tyne from Newcastle.

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Big UK Broadband ISPs Can Now Confirm Huge 2022 Price Hikes

19th January, 2022 (38 Comments)

The Office of National Statistics has today published the latest UK inflation figures, which sees the Consumer Price Index (CPI) hit 5.4% and the Retail Price Index (RPI) reach 7.5%! Many of the country’s biggest broadband ISPs base their annual price rises off the figure published in January, thus we now know how huge the hit will be.

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Freedom Fibre Extend UK FTTP Broadband Rollout into Shropshire

13th January, 2022 (4 Comments)

Alternative network builder Freedom Fibre (FF), which is being supported by UK ISP partner TalkTalk (here) and is busy building a new 10Gbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across semi-rural parts of North England, has just invested another £5m to help extend their network into Shropshire.

CityFibre’s Swindon FTTP Broadband Build Adds 10,000 Social Homes

13th January, 2022 (1 Comment)

CityFibre’s existing £40m project to deploy a 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across the Wiltshire town of Swindon, which began in late 2020 (here), has been boosted by a new deal with the Swindon Borough Council (SBC). As a result, the network will be expanded to include 10,000 council managed homes.

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ISP TalkTalk UK Reveals the Top 5 XMas Gaming Gifts by Traffic

6th January, 2022 (9 Comments)

Broadband ISP TalkTalk has taken a closer look at the internet traffic from over 1 million of their customers on Christmas Day and managed to identify the top five video gaming console gifts. The data reveals that Nintendo’s Switch console was by far the most popular gaming gift for 2021, with 22,995 new devices being connected on the big day.

The 2021 vs 2020 Top Fastest UK Mobile and Home Broadband ISPs

31st December, 2021 (24 Comments)

ISPreview.co.uk is today taking a quick look back over the past 12 months to see how the average UK internet download and upload speeds have changed across the top national fixed line home broadband ISPs and mobile operators. Suffice to say that 2021 has marked a return to the usual trend of general improvement.

Brace for HUGE UK Broadband and Mobile Price Hikes in 2022

28th December, 2021 (35 Comments)

The surge in UK inflation is threatening to result in one of the biggest annual price hikes in broadband ISP, phone, mobile and calling charges seen in years, which could hit customers of BT, EE, Plusnet, Vodafone, O2, TalkTalk, Shell Energy, KCOM and others with rises of around 9% come March-April 2022 (double the usual level).

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2021 vs 2015 Netflix UK Video Streaming Broadband ISP Speed Index

26th December, 2021 (21 Comments)

Once again, we’ve taken our annual look back to see how video streaming speeds via different broadband ISPs have changed for UK users of Netflix’s popular internet movie and TV service. Once again, the top spot continues to be held by Virgin Media (VMO2), but this doesn’t mean what you might think.