A Birmingham company is in line for a rapidI exIpansion after a £236 million deal to create a new consumer broadband giant.
Mobile phone retailer TalkTalk group has completed the acquisition of internet service provider Tiscali UK in a £236 million cash deal which will double the size of the group’s business-to-business division, Opal, which is based in the city.
The takeover deal, which went through last week, will mean 130,000 business customers that were previously managed through Tiscali’s Nildram, Pipex Business and Freedom2Surf brands, will now be integrated into Opal’s small business division.
Paul Lawton, managing director of Opal, said: “We are very excited about the opportunities that the combination of these two businesses will create.
“Tiscali’s technical heritage and existing product set aligns well with our own, and Tiscali’s existing customers will benefit from our industry leading customer service.”
The link between TalkTalk and Tiscali was cleared under EU rules on fair competition after the Commission ruled that the new merged group would still face strong competition in the sector, especially from BT.
A Commission statement said the activities of Carphone Warehouse and Tiscali UK overlap in retail and wholesale internet access provision, as well as in retail fixed line telephony services.
It continued: “The Commission’s analysis focused in particular on the domestic sector of broadband services, where the merged entity will become one of the main competitors to the incumbent operator BT.
“The Commission’s examination of the proposed transaction showed that none of the above markets would give rise to competition concerns.”
It added: “The new entity will continue to face competition from a number of strong players, especially BT, as well as from a number of strong alternative operators.
“Competition from other technologies, such as mobile telecommunications, is also growing.”
