Original article ISPreview UK:Read More
The TalkTalk Group has confirmed to ISPreview that some 95,000 customers of ISP Origin Broadband, which is a trading name for Origin Communications and OB Telecom (owned by TalkTalk), are being transferred to Utility Warehouse (UW / Telecom Plus) as part of a recently agreed partnership.
At present UW already offers a variety of broadband services, which have long been powered by TalkTalk’s (PXC) network in the UK. Similarly, Origin Broadband was previously an independent provider, although a few years back they fell into financial difficulty and in 2021 the company’s ownership ended up being transferred to OB Telecom Limited (here), which is controlled by TalkTalk.
Suffice to say that Origin has been fairly quiet since then and later stopped taking on new customers, although toward the end of last year they did “carry out a small-scale sales trial” that briefly saw them attempt to take on some new subscribers (here). But this soon ended, leaving some uncertainty over the fate of Origin’s brand and remaining customer base.
At the same time the TalkTalk Group has also been dealing with its own wider challenges, which last year saw them accept a crucial refinancing package worth roughly £400m (here and here). This saved the group from the immediate risk of a default on its debts (i.e. extended debt maturities to September 2027), but still left them with the challenge of needing to fix their foundations.
Back to Origin and several sources recently began informing ISPreview that the provider’s customer base was being transferred to UW, which is a change that is also mentioned on their website (here). The related FAQ page states: “Origin has made the difficult decision to exit the telecoms market and Utility Warehouse (UW) has been selected to service their existing home phone and broadband customers.”
A TalkTalk Spokesperson told ISPreview:
“TalkTalk and Utility Warehouse (UW) have enjoyed a long-standing partnership. As announced by UW recently, TalkTalk has agreed a partnership under which approximately 95,000 Origin customers will be transferred to UW. Impacted customers will be contacted ahead of migration. No decision has been taken on the future of the Origin brand.”
The move may provide a small financial benefit to the group (details of the deal have not been released), while at the same time keeping impacted customers on the same network platform. The transition is thus also expected to be “seamless” and should go without disruption, although large customer migrations sometimes do still throw up the odd issue.