Tiscali continued to lose subscribers prior to TalkTalk takeover

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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Tiscali customers who switch to Sky get £50 credit and FREE Sky+

Sky has just launched a great promotional offer that is exclusively available to Tiscali broadband customers. From now until the 11th of June, Tiscali subscribers who switch to Sky Broadband will receive £50 credit, and will get a free Sky+ box thrown into the bargain.

This seems like a really good deal, as no-one really knows whats going to be happen with all those Tiscali TV boxes in June, when TalkTalk are supposedly migrating Tiscali customers. Plus, it sees punters making a saving of £99; £49 that you’d normally pay for the Sky+ box, plus the £50 credit.

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47 Reasons to love TalkTalk

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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Carphone Warehouse buys Tiscali for £263 million

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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Carphone to buy out beleaguered Tiscali?

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 was once the frontrunner 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 buyout looks uncertain after shares suspended

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’s next-gen broadband given regulatory go-ahead

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]

Virgin Media and O2 lead the pack in 2009 with fastest average speeds

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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Tiscali Wireless Offer – Routers available for £10

Tiscali are now offering wireless routers across all of their broadband packages and bundles for a one off cost of £10, meaning that families and busy households with multiple users can now get connected for less.

Tiscali will continue to offer free modems with their broadband products as standard for those who don’t require a router or a wireless connection. However, those signing up for any Tiscali TV packages will receive a wireless router for free, as it is required for the Tiscali TV IPTV video on demand function to work.

Tiscali broadband is available from £6.49 a month, and the cost of line rental is included in all Tiscali packages.

Sky hook in over £400m for Tiscali

Sky are all set to raise £450 million in a bond issue to institutional investors in order to stump up some massive coin which is allegedly earmarked for the acquisition of the UK tentacle of Tiscali.

Tiscali have recently confirmed that they have been in talks with Sky over a potential deal – the Italy-based ISP and telecoms outfit announced late last year that the long term goal for 2008 was to find themselves the right buyer.

It is uncertain whether or not the deal includes Sky taking over the Tiscali TV IPTV platform, on which there are already a number of Sky channels. If the deal goes ahead, Tiscali TV, which began life as Homechoice, could potentially be rebranded under the Sky Picnic name, in the event that a deal with Ofcom is worked out.

The move would not only see Sky leapfrog into third place behind broadband and digital TV rivals BT and Virgin Media and ahead of Carphone Warehouse, whose main broadband concern TalkTalk is also reportedly up for sale.

There are rumours that Sky are also interested in buying up TalkTalk along with Tiscali, but if this were true, then the satellite giant would probably need to dig a little deeper – the TalkTalk arm of Carphone’s business is valued at a cool £1bn.