Market turmoil scuppers Sir Charles Dunstone’s plans to sell to Virgin Media O2
Sir Charles Dunstone’s hopes of a lucrative sale of the broadband provider TalkTalk to Virgin Media O2 have been dashed, after market and regulatory uncertainties forced a rethink.
The billionaire entrepreneur, who spun TalkTalk off from Carphone Warehouse in 2010, has been in months of discussions with its bigger rival about a deal.
However, the two sides are now shifting focus with debt markets effectively closed by economic turmoil and no clarity over how the leaderless Competition and Markets Authority would view a combination of broadband rivals.
TalkTalk is now in detailed talks with BT’s infrastructure arm Openreach about a deal to move its four million customers onto its new faster and more reliable full-fibre network in the coming years. An agreement would undermine the main attraction of a takeover for Virgin Media O2, which would have made savings by transferring TalkTalk’s customers onto its own cable network.