TalkTalk has agreed a deal to acquire SSE Phone & Broadband from OVO Energy.
The Salford-headquartered company has not revealed how much the deal, which should complete in the autumn, is worth.
All of SSE’s phone and broadband customers and staff team will transfer to TalkTalk in the coming months as part of the deal.
In 2020, SSE Phone & Broadband was acquired by Bristol-based OVO Energy as part of its purchase of SSE Energy Services from SSE plc.
SSE, which owned SSE Phone & Broadband prior to its sale to OVO Energy in 2020, has given permission for the SSE brand to be used under licence until April 2023 to support the transition to the new owners.
The news comes following reports that Virgin Media O2 is considering a takeover of TalkTalk, which reverted to private ownership under Tosca IOM in a £1.1bn deal late last year. The potential deal could reportedly value the company in the region of £3bn.
TalkTalk was founded by Sir Charles Dunstone and spun out of Carphone Warehouse in 2010. In its most recent accounts, for the 12 months to February 28, 2021, TalkTalk reported a revenue of £1.3bn, down from the £1.5bn from the prior year. It fell to a pre-tax loss of £11m compared to a profit of £131m.
TalkTalk, which relocated its HQ from London to Salford in 2019, has more than four million broadband customers and over 2,000 employees. It supplies services to consumers through the TalkTalk brand, to businesses through TalkTalk Business and by wholesaling to resellers.
