Debt-troubled UK internet provider TalkTalk has confirmed that its staff were yesterday informed about another round of significant redundancies, which one report indicates could affect almost a quarter (c. 130) of their consumer division workforce across the country. But the specifics won’t be known until after Christmas.
The move comes shortly after the group’s recent decision to accept a refinancing package worth roughly £400m (here and here), which saved TalkTalk from the immediate risk of a default. The deal essentially extended the group’s debt maturities to September 2027 and buys them more time to fix the foundations, which won’t be an easy task (here).
At the same time, TalkTalk’s most recent financial results (here) revealed that their on-net customer base (fibre FTTP/C and broadband) fell again to 3.6 million (down from 3.94m in 2023), although their Ethernet (leased lines etc.) base grew to 75,000 (up from 69,400).
Suffice to say that, given the recent results and refinancing deal, there was already some speculation that the provider might have to slash more jobs and now it has been confirmed.
A TalkTalk spokesperson said (Manchester Evening News):
“This is the first stage in a multi-year transformation of our business to deliver differentiated service and product to our customers. We are simplifying our business to ensure that we can continue to offer great value connectivity to our millions of customers across the UK.
As part of this, we have made the difficult decision to launch a consultation about the future of some roles at TalkTalk’s consumer business.”
In addition, some of ISPreview’s sources have indicated that TalkTalk’s approach to “simplifying” their business may involve moving to adopt more of a virtual operator model, although the details of how this might work, if true, remain unclear.