TalkTalk poaching Tiscali customers with three months free broadband

TalkTalk has today announced a £50 incentive scheme to attract Tiscali customers concerned over the ISP’s future.

It would appear to be the final stage of a long battle for ownership of Tiscali’s customers which, earlier this month, saw TalkTalk linked once again with the ailing Italian ISP shortly after its shares had been delisted from the Italian stock exchange.

TalkTalk had been in discussions with Tiscali last year, alongside Sky, but withdrew to leave Sky a clear shot at buying outright control, claiming the price was far too high. After Sky subsequently pulled out of talks, TalkTalk was rumoured to have made a last ditch effort to reach a price which it felt reflected the ailing state of the company.

TalkTalk is not commenting on the inside track of how negotiations have fared with Tiscali this month but it would seem obvious that the two sides have not agreed a deal and instead TalkTalk is targeting its customers through today’s £50 incentive which it says will run until further notice.

Under the offer, the company’s £29 connection fee will be waived and three months of phone and broadband (excluding £11 per month line rental) will be provided free of charge for all Tiscali customers signing an 18 month deal with TalkTalk.

The web page it has set up to present the offer provocatively encourages Tiscali owners to join the ‘thousands’ of subscribers who have already left the ISP to join TalkTalk. When BT made similar claims and approached Tiscali customers last year suggesting they join BT, Tiscali threatened legal action.

So far there has been only a muted response from Tiscali on TalkTalk’s clear move from considering purchasing its customers through buying the company to instead openly tempting them away with a three month free broadband offer.

In fact, Tiscali is only going so far as to acknowledge the offer and suggest customers think twice before taking it up.

“We have seen this promotion but suggest customers look at this carefully as they would not be getting a better deal overall and would be tied into a new 18 month contract with TalkTalk,” a spokesman confirmed to SamKnows.

The offer is the latest blow for Tiscali in a long running saga of its Italian owners seeking to sell its UK business, complete with around 1.7m subscribers. Just last week the FT reported its auditors Ernst & Young appeared to be at odds with the group, suggesting its finances were not quite as healthy as the board believes and questioning how successful current plans to renegotiate its heavy debt burden will be.

Tags: BT, Sky, TalkTalk, Tiscali