TalkTalk to move HQ to Salford as losses narrow

TalkTalk is to relocate its headquarters from London to Salford as it continues plans to grow its broadband business.

The ISP added 104,000 customers over the past six months while it shifted 192,000 new and existing subscribers to more lucrative fibre broadband packages. In total it now has 4.3 million customers across all its services.

Although overall revenue fell by 0.6 per cent to £822 million, caused partly by the scaling back of its MVNO ambitions, TalkTalk is reporting an increase in ‘headline’ revenue of 3.9 per cent to £771 million.

TalkTalk Salford

This has seen net losses narrow to just £6 million, encouragement for the company as it continues plans to return to its roots as a ‘no frills’ challenger in the UK broadband market, and as it embarks on its full fibre network rollout.

“This has been a strong first half for TalkTalk, with continued broadband base growth and further progress as we become a simpler, more efficient business,” said Tristia Harrison, TalkTalk CEO.

“With core business performance on track, we are today announcing two additional steps to position TalkTalk for the future.

“We are accelerating our full fibre strategy, launching a new company, FibreNation, which will expand our Gigabit broadband footprint to over 100,000 homes in the next 12-18 months. As we continue to radically simplify TalkTalk, we will also create a single main campus for the business in Salford. Having a single main home will reduce operational complexity and allow us to become a more efficient, focussed business, in turn supporting our long-term growth.”

TalkTalk opened a “state of the art” facility in Salford in 2017, moving its technology and business teams from two offices in Warrington and Irlam. That move has been such a success that TalkTalk is moving its entire operations there, hoping to benefit from a more simplified, flexible structure.

Hundreds of jobs will be relocated and the company will begin further hiring in 2019. New posts will be created for TalkTalk’s graduate and apprenticeship programmes.

“We’ve always had a base in the north west, but we want to build on that heritage and create a world-class campus for the whole business,” continued Harrison.

“As with any change, we are committed to supporting all of our colleagues during this transition period. Bringing all of our teams together will make us a simpler business, where it’s easier for teams to work together and deliver the very best service for customers.”

Steve McCaskill is TechRadar Pro's resident mobile industry expert, covering all aspects of the UK and global news, from operators to service providers and everything in between. He is a former editor of Silicon UK and journalist with over a decade's experience in the technology industry, writing about technology, in particular, telecoms, mobile and sports tech, sports, video games and media.