Overview
- BT completed a pre‑pack purchase of TalkTalk’s consumer and wholesale businesses in October, taking on services for about 2.5 million customers at an expected cost of roughly £400 million.
- Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy used public‑interest powers and the Competition and Markets Authority opened a fast‑tracked review of the deal, and rivals including Virgin Media O2 have publicly objected to the takeover.
- BT reported a 12% rise in pre‑tax profit to £1.1bn for the six months to September and said its cost programme delivered about £312m of annualised savings.
- The company’s liquidity and balance sheet show strain with operating cash after investment down 59% to £236m and net debt up to about £21bn, and Allison Kirkby would not guarantee jobs for roughly 900 TalkTalk employees while the regulatory review continues.
- Openreach has passed 10 million full‑fibre connections even as retail line losses continue, a shift that is prompting some rivals to consider using Openreach rather than building parallel networks and that could reshape competition and service costs for customers.