Despite broadband news this week being largely dominated by the Carphone Warehouse takeover of Tiscali, BT Broadband has just announced figures that reveal that it is still top dog in the UK broadband stakes.

The broadband provider BT claims that its customer base has increased to 4.8 million, keeping it head and shoulders above the competition. The Tiscali buyout saw Carphone Warehouse leapfrog Virgin Media into second place, with its customer base swelling to 4.25 million - impressive, but still not enough to pip the British Broadband crown from BT.

Today also saw the publication of Tiscali’s results for the last quarter, which saw the troubled company steadily losing subscribers right up until the deal with Carphone was done.

The figures released show that BT Vision now has 423,000 customers, up from 398,000 on the last quarter. Use of BT’s Openzone Wi-Fi minutes, amounts of which are bundled free with BT Broadband packages, has also increased by 80 per cent over the last 12 months.

Tiscali has just released its latest list of figures for the last quarter, which shows a steady decline in subscribers from nearly 1.76 million at the end of last year, to 1.7 million at the end of Q1 2009 (31st of March).

This news comes just a week after it was announced that TalkTalk and AOL owners Carphone Warehouse bought the UK arm of the Italian firm, which was struggling with debt repayments, for £263 million, £20 million of which went towards clearing debts, according to the press release found here (PDF).

It is thought that once the transaction is complete next month, Tiscali subscribers will be migrated to the TalkTalk network and be offered the basic TalkTalk Essentials service (8Mbps speeds, 40GB download limit, Evening & Weekend calls) as standard.

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It’s a bit short of and decidedly less tasty than Heinz’s famous 57 Varieties, but ISP TalkTalk has just launched a list of 47 Reasons why you should sign up for its broadband and phone services.

Some of the listed 47 Reasons include:

• Fantastically low cost calls

• Free wireless router

• Min 40GB monthly usage limit

• Commitment to always be cheaper than BT

They could have included on the list those ‘Human Animations’ adverts that bookend ITV Mystery Drama shows, and the fact that they share a name with a critically lauded proto-post rock pop group who shot to fame with the song ‘It’s My Life’, which was later covered by Gwen Stefani.

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After about a year of negotiations and will-they-wont-they speculation, Carphone Warehouse has finally snapped up Tiscali’s UK operations for a cool £263 million. This purchase means that Carphone has leapfrogged Virgin Media to become the second largest ISP in the UK, with some 4.25 million broadband subscribers.

More importantly, the buyout means that Tiscali customers, concerned that they may lose their connection can rest easy. It was thought that Tiscali had racked up debts of €500 million across the Continent, and rumours of the group going into administration had subscribers understandably worried.

Tiscali UK CEO Mary Turner said: “It’s good news for our customers who will increasingly benefit from a group that has consistently championed best value and award-winning customer service.”

Carphone Warehouse chief executive Charles Dunstone also said: “It has been the longest deal I have ever worked on. I think it has been hard for the shareholders of Tiscali because during the process we had the collapse of the banking world and then the decline in the pound to the euro so we think this price is low.”

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According to some ’secret plans’ leaked in yesterday’s Guardian, quad play provider Virgin Media are apparently intent on opening up their fibre optic cable network to rival providers. The article details how the fibre provider has “plans to open up its cable network to rival telephone and broadband companies” in around 18 months’ time, loosely following BT’s Openreach template.

This move would see the likes of Sky, O2 and the Carphone Warehouse offer fast cable broadband services where available alongside their more traditional copperwire ADSL services.

BT is already busy setting up a fibre network of its own, which is not due to be complete until 2012. If Virgin Media were to open up their network before then, BT could in theory get its customers signed up to cable on the Virgin network, and then migrate them across to their own lines once the network is up and running.

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Carphone Warehouse has decided to put an end to speculation regarding the break up with TalkTalk… by announcing that the group is breaking up.

Whilst the demerger won’t happen for some time yet, Carphone founder Charles Dunstone said that the current economic climate will “undoubtedly present challenges” which may see the broadband provider split from its parent company “in the year ahead”.

Under Carphone’s plan, the high street mobile retailer and broadband provider TalkTalk would be split into two separate companies.

“We are well funded, and have clear and simple strategies for our two businesses which balance growth with tight operational efficiency and cash generation,” said Mr Dunstone.

It is unsure whether AOL will merge with the TalkTalk, or remain part of the Carphone Warehouse group.

After reports of Tiscali falling into some serious financial difficulty, it has emerged that TalkTalk and AOL owners Carphone Warehouse are rumoured to be plotting a last minute takeover bid.

Carphone were once frontrunners for a Tiscali takeover bid launched last year, which fell through at the last minute. Sky then stepped into the bidding war, stumping up £450 million for the Tiscali’s UK services, but again, negotiations deteriorated before a deal could be worked out.

Last September, a Carphone buyout of Tiscali would have seen its joint subscriber base swell to a massive 4.6 million, overtaking BT at the head of the British Broadband league table. A Sky purchase would have seen the satellite broadcaster become the third biggest ISP, with its customer base rising to 3.6 million.

Tiscali are some €500 million in the hole, and as the credit crunch continues to bite, the lenders of Europe are calling for their pound of flesh. After Tiscali revealed that its shares have been suspended on the Italian stock market following a 50 per cent tumble, it asked lenders to freeze debts in order to “allow a period of suspension for interest repayments and financial covenants,” according to a piece in the Telegraph.

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Tiscali appear to be the first victims of the recession in the British Broadband Big 6, after its shares have been suspended on the Italian stock market after taking a 50 per cent tumble this morning after it was revealed that the group, which collectively owes banks €500 million, failed to meet a debt repayment.

Tiscali is currently the fifth largest broadband provider in the UK, with a subscriber base of around 1.7 million. Tiscali, who listed looking for a buyer for their UK consumer services as a top priority in 2008, were looking for at least £600 million. Among those interested in a buyout included TalkTalk/AOL owners Carphone Warehouse and Sky - the latter stumped up £450 million for Tiscali’s UK arm, but talks broke down, becoming “impossible to proceed,” according to Tiscali.

This means that Tiscali will be coming to the banks of Europe cap in hand, at a time when fiscal security is shaky to say the least.

BT plans to surge ahead with its massive £1.5 billion upgrade to its broadband network, after Ofcom promised not to hinder progress, and allow the broadband market leader to make recoup losses made on its investment.

Telecoms regulator Ofcom yesterday promised to allow BT to set prices rival ISPs such as Carphone Warehouse and Tiscali would have to pay to gain access to the improved network, although BT Openreach will be required to charge every customer “on equal terms and without favour”.

The network, once complete will see some 10 million homes able to sign up for next-gen broadband services promising maximum speeds of up to 100Mbps - rollout will encompass 40% per cent of the UK population by 2012.

Many have said that regulation has prohibited deployment of a cable network by BT in the past, allowing Virgin Media - whose cable network currently reaches roughly 50 per cent of the population - to surge ahead with next-gen broadband services.

Virgin Media are already selling 50Mbps broadband to a handful of their customers, and, once upgrades are in place, are expecting to be able to service their entire network with the Size: XXL 50Mb product by the end of the year. Virgin have repeatedly stated that their current network is already capable of handling 100Mbps speeds, (pending the requisite upgrades) meaning that they are already ably placed to match BT’s offer, and won’t have to spend nearly as much money in doing so.

[Link: Guardian]

Broadband Comparison site Broadband.co.uk have released the results of their anecdotal speed tests for January 2009, which sees Virgin Media sitting pretty atop the pile with an average download speed of 6.018Mbps - a speed and position no doubt bolstered by the recent launch of the premium Size: XXL 50Mbps service.

Sitting just behind Virgin in second place is O2, owners of Be Broadband’s ADSL2+ infrastructure, with a top average download speed of 5.319Mbps. Third place is Sky Broadband, with a top downstream average of 3.521Mbps.

The three ISPs offer theoretical maximum download speeds of 50Mbps, 20Mbps (or 24, if you’re with Be) and 16Mbps respectively.

Market leaders BT were nowhere to be seen in the upper echelons of the speed test, lurking second to last with a top average download speed of 2.331Mbps, just about AOL’s 2.011Mbps.

In the upload speed stakes, O2 performed considerably better than Virgin, with a top average of 0.734, well above the cable group’s 0.466Mbps.

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