STRONG SIGNALS
TalkTalk moves into profit as telecoms group rolls out services in region
TALKTALK YESTERDAY revealed that it had added nearly 300,000 customers in the first half of the financial year, as it rolls out services across Yorkshire.
The company swung into the black, changing a £4m loss into a £4m profit before tax.
Revenue fell 3.6 per cent over the period, compared to the same six months last year, to £792m, but the company managed to cut costs as it prepares to move into a new headquarters.
The number of new fibre broadband customers rose 52 per cent to 292,000, to a total of around two million, TalkTalk said.
Tristia Harrison, chief executive of TalkTalk, said: “We’re pleased that our clear strategy to accelerate customer growth in fibre broadband while also reducing costs has led to a significant increase in profitability in the first half, with a 14 per cent yearon-year increase in like-for-like EBITDA.”
She added: “We now have over two million customers taking a fibre product, adding nearly 300,000 customers in the half.
“Fibre broadband is good news for customers and TalkTalk. It offers a faster, more reliable service whilst also reducing churn and comes with a materially lower cost to serve.
“In addition, our soon to be completed HQ move and shift to a self-service model is underpinning our cost reductions.”
It recently announced plans to roll out its full fibre scheme to Harrogate, Ripon, Knaresborough and Dewsbury. Construction work in Dewsbury began
last month and will cover 61,000 premises.
TalkTalk also said that a deal to sell its FibreNation business had stalled after the Labour Party announced a plan to create a ‘British Broadband’ public service.
TalkTalk said it was still in discussions with interested parties regarding its FibreNation business.
“Our discussions are very advanced, and yes, the news overnight of course is making everybody in the sector pause and consider,” Ms Harrison said.
“We were really close, really close, but I think something of this sort that is in the news, obviously everybody is... digesting and working out what it means.”
TalkTalk launched FibreNation last year with the aim of connecting 60,000 more homes in northern England with ‘fibre-tothe-premises’ full gigabit speed connections.
The plan underlined its ambition to build its own ultrafast network reaching three million customers after it abandoned a plan to team up with M&G Prudential.
Fibre broadband is good news for customers and TalkTalk. Tristia Harrison, chief executive of TalkTalk