Pipex Residential (and brands) sold to Tiscali

[Shorty]

From:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6897687.stm

UK internet firm Pipex has sold its broadband and phone business to Italian rival Tiscali for £210m ($426.6m).

The sale of the division follows a four-month strategic review of Pipex by investment bank UBS.

The purchase of Pipex's broadband unit - which was put up for sale in March - is expected to lift Tiscali's UK broadband customer base to 1.4 million.

Pipex is one of the last big independent broadband providers still to be operating in the UK, following a number of recent deals such as the purchase of PlusNet by BT.

The prospect of a sale has therefore been closely watched by rivals such as BT, BSkyB and Virgin Media.

Pipex itself has expanded through a number of acquisitions in the past few years.

In March 2006 it bought the Homecall voice and line rental business from Phones4U for £44m. It has also acquired Toucan from IDT Telecom and Bulldog's broadband customers from Cable & Wireless.

This sale covers Pipex Homecall (bought from Caudwell last year), Nildram, Freedom2Surf, Bulldog, Toucan, Pipex Internet & Switch2 brands.

I don't even know where to start

[mart_haj86]

Ive said it before, I think its time for me to jump ship with nildram.

[Gunwitch]

It's going to go from bad to really bad now. Heard nothing good about tiscali.

Time to leave for BeThere methinks

[Shorty]

It just seems sad that the independants are all being swallowed by the incumbents. Eventually, once there is only the last few players left. They can strategically control the market. Sad.

[JimNastics]

I remember the days when Pipex led the way in residential broadband... back in late 2001 / early 2002, they had the 512k package at £23.44 per month which really set the ball rolling. Such a shame how they've fallen from grace, needless to say I jumped ship (to IDNet) last summer, as have all my family members who I recommended them to many moons ago (although they've all taken up Sky packages... wonder how long that'll take to go tits up!).

[burble]

Oh bugger, time to task someone with getting the 20 or so ADSL connections we have for our field based people migrated elsewhere.

[Grimley]

Oh, deep joy - NOT!

[Phil_P]

As a very satisfied Freedom2Surf customer, I'll be watching this closely. I was concerned when they were bought out by Pipex, although to be honest nothing really changed from my perspective as a customer (I still get the same excellent customer service) and now Pipex is bought out by Tiscali.

If the service degrades, I'll be switching, but until I see that happening, I'm happy at present.

[mart_haj86]

I think a phone call to zen is on the cards. I just wish my exchange would get enabled for BE LLU

[Lee H]

well it's adios from me in this case.

Currently with bulldog and had nothing by epic battles with them all the time regarding account suspension even though the bills paid and I have electronic and paper receipts to show that bulldog get there cash, but their billing team says otherwise.

I suppose this is a godsend really and the MAC code I'm waiting for ( 3 days since asking ) will allow me to jump to BE quicker.

[Sinizter]

My pipex connection is pretty **** as it stands. If it gets worse, I might move over to Virgin or Be ADSL.

I hate Tiscali.