Communications giant seeking deals with Opus Broadband and Octopus Investments

TalkTalk has confirmed it remains in “advanced discussions” with prospective buyers of its consumer and broadband divisions as the embattled telecoms company races to secure its future.

Britain’s fourth-largest broadband provider announced it was in the closing stages of finalising sales for its two arms, amid mounting speculation that it could be headed for administration should it fail to reach agreement on deals.

It said: “The company is now in the final stages of its sales process for the business and expects to conclude both transactions imminently.”

The heavily indebted firm is reported to employ approximately 900 staff and serves around 1.5 million customers.

It is understood the group continues to progress negotiations with rival Opus Broadband over a potential deal for the consumer arm TalkTalk, alongside talks with Octopus Investments regarding its wholesale operation PXC, reportedly valued at around £300 million.

However, a period of exclusivity with both bidders lapsed in recent days, following reports that Opus had slashed its offer for the consumer arm to £100 million amid protracted negotiations, fuelling concerns that the sales could collapse and force the company into administration.

The Government has been engaging with TalkTalk over the proposed sales, given the firm’s significance as a major broadband supplier to households and businesses, as well as its provision of telecoms services to the Ministry of Defence. It is understood that national security networks are partially reliant on TalkTalk’s PXC systems, although the MoD is reported to have backup measures in place to avoid dependence on a single provider.

TalkTalk was established by Sir Charles Dunstone in 2003 as a subsidiary of Carphone Warehouse.

Its shareholders, including chairman Sir Charles and lender Ares Management, are understood to be engaged in negotiations and may inject additional capital if agreements with Opus and Octopus collapse.

The transactions are complicated by the consumer business’s reliance on infrastructure operated by PXC.

A transaction to offload PXC was therefore required to facilitate the sale of the TalkTalk consumer operation.

Sir Charles, who remains a significant shareholder in TalkTalk, supported a £1.1 billion deal to take TalkTalk private in December 2020, spearheaded by its then second largest investor, hedge fund Toscafund, and private equity house Penta Capital.

This resulted in its delisting in 2021, concluding an 11-year presence on the London market, but also burdened it with substantial debt.

The company has also faced challenges amid an increasingly competitive marketplace in recent years, with so-called altnet rivals emerging and undercutting many of the established operators.

Eighty-three per cent of businesses using artificial intelligence in London and the South East report greater efficiency as a result, according to new research from NatWest, which found that just 6 per cent of current business users nationally have reached the stage where AI is transforming how their organisation operates.

In London, 81 per cent of businesses using AI report stronger innovation, and around seven in 10 say the technology is contributing to higher revenue and profitability, the bank’s flagship report found.

In the South East, 75 per cent of businesses using AI report increased innovation, and around two-thirds say AI is supporting stronger commercial performance.

NatWest said the results reflect the strengths of a regional economy built on sectors such as financial services, professional services, technology, life sciences and other knowledge-intensive industries.

Across the UK, 44 per cent of businesses already use AI, according to the report, with a further 41 per cent planning to adopt it within five years.

The bank said the biggest opportunity is still ahead, pointing to the small share of users that have reached the most advanced stage of adoption.

Separately, the Office for National Statistics reported in July that around 35 per cent of UK businesses with 10 or more employees were using AI by June 2026, up from around 12 per cent in late 2023, with only 10 per cent reporting extensive use across their operations.

Other recent surveys have also measured AI adoption. Research from Simply Business earlier this month found that AI use among UK small businesses had more than doubled to 47 per cent, while PwC warned in April that UK firms risked falling behind global leaders on AI investment and returns.

The NatWest report argues that technology alone will not determine which businesses succeed, and that trust is increasingly seen as a competitive advantage.

Among NatWest retail customers surveyed, 81 per cent said the ability to reach a real person when needed is the most important trust factor, while 77 per cent said they value reliability, human oversight and transparency around data use.

According to the bank, the findings suggest that businesses which retain human judgement, communicate openly about their use of AI and prioritise customer confidence will be best placed to realise the technology’s potential.

Catherine van Weenen, chair of the London and South East board at NatWest, said: “London and the South East are already seeing the benefits of AI, with businesses reporting stronger productivity, innovation and growth. For a region with strengths in sectors such as professional services, financial services and technology, the opportunity is significant.

“But the report also shows there is much more potential to unlock. While many businesses are experimenting with AI, relatively few have embedded it across their operations.”

She added: “Realising that opportunity will require people to remain at the heart of how AI is adopted. Trust matters. Businesses want the benefits of AI, but they also want human expertise, oversight and transparency. That’s why NatWest is helping businesses build the skills, confidence and connections they need to turn AI’s potential into long-term growth for London and the South East.”

Through the NatWest Accelerator, the bank said it will deliver 5,000 AI learning and adoption engagements across the UK over the next 12 months, aimed at helping businesses move from experimentation to impact.

In London and the South East, the support includes practical training, expert support, access to finance and the bank’s regional innovation network, alongside partnerships with universities including Oxford and Brighton.

The commitment follows NatWest’s move earlier this year to put all 60,000 of its own staff through AI ethics training, developed with the University of Edinburgh.

About the author

Amy Ingham

Amy Ingham is a reporter at Business Matters, covering UK business news with a focus on breaking news, business policy, late payments and insolvency. She joined the magazine in 2026 after completing the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism at Harlow College’s journalism school. Her recent reporting includes British Steel’s nationalisation and its impact on SME suppliers, the decline in late payments by large firms, and Insolvency Service director disqualifications. Reach her at aingham@cbmeg.co.uk.

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When Greg Bradley started the his gym equipment company 14 years ago, someone told him he would never sell outside the island of Ireland.

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BLK BOX is based in Newtownabbey – but it has secured contracts with high-profile customers all over the world, from sports teams like Manchester United to chains like PureGym.

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Bradley said Covid had made people realise the importance of their health and “a lot of young people are into going to the gym”.

“We have won high profile contracts and expanding internationally across France, Spain, Germany and other countries,” he told BBC News NI.

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American homebuyers battling elevated interest rates and high listing prices are confronting a far broader financial hurdle: a hidden “obstacle course” of property taxes, rising insurance premiums and local regulatory friction.

Beyond headline mortgage rates, rising monthly carrying costs in high-growth states are increasingly influencing where families can afford to settle, according to SERHANT. founder and real estate star Ryan Serhant.

“New York taught me that real estate is a function of price and rates. It is supply and it is demand,” Serhant told Fox News Digital at his SoHo headquarters. “As we started expanding the company across the country in 2023, what we learned very, very quickly is that price and rates are only a small piece of what I would call, not even a housing market, but a housing obstacle course.”

“You realize that the game has somewhat been rigged by those who created the obstacle course in the first place, and punishes mobility in favor [of] stability.”

HOME SELLERS MAY HAVE TO ‘TAKE A HIT’ AS RATES RISE, REAL ESTATE EXPERTS SAY

As of Thursday, the average rate on a 30-year fixed refinance was 7.11%, up from 7.07% a week earlier, while the average 15-year fixed refinance rate was 6.34%, according to the Mortgage Research Center. The increase comes after the Federal Reserve last week raised the target range for the federal funds rate from 3.5%-3.75% to 3.75%-4%. The 25-basis-point increase marked the first interest rate hike since July 2023 and came after the Fed left rates unchanged at its first five meetings this year.

Ryan Serhant breaks down the U.S. housing “obstacle course” that’s become “rigged” by those who created it. (Getty Images)

Additionally, a new report from Redfin shows that U.S. home prices rose 3.7% year over year in August, representing the fastest annual growth rate in a year.

While cost pressures may entice some homeowners to move to states without individual income taxes, such as Florida and Texas, Serhant warned that unexpected carrying costs can offset initial tax savings.

“People move with two things, and it’s not just their two legs, which politicians like to say, ‘People vote with their feet.’ They move with their wallet, and they move with heart,” he said.

“If you think about a state like Florida, for example… And if you think about Texas, people think about no state income tax, but then they start to realize, ‘Oh, how are real estate property taxes determined?’ In Florida, it’s almost 2% of what you pay. That’s a lot. And then you start thinking about sales taxes, what insurance costs — what is it like to get homeowners insurance in a coastal city these days? What does it actually cost you per month if you have to get private homeowners insurance?” Serhant posited. “God forbid there’s a hurricane, let alone a tornado, let alone an earthquake, let alone a forest fire.”

Turning to local policy, Serhant also discussed measures such as New York City’s new non-primary-residence surcharge, called a pied-à-terre tax, which he argued can trigger broader market gridlock. He said that rather than forcing high-net-worth sellers to cut prices, such tax assessments can freeze activity among middle-tier buyers.

“The conversation where people are moving to is a full package conversation. The pied-à-terre tax hasn’t pushed people out of the city. What it’s done is, it’s frozen people who are in the middle, where that payment does really affect their monthly living costs, their monthly budget. If they had a place in New York City as a pied-à-terre, so they could have a nice one-bedroom or two-bedroom in a nice building close to their daughter who now lives in New York, and they want to go to Broadway a couple of times a year, so now, okay, well maybe [they] don’t do that trip anymore… and we have those conversations.”

“Governments need to take a long-term view. Their constituents do not,” Serhant continued. “If I am a dad and I have a kid, I’m thinking, yes, about how I’m gonna raise them over the next 20 years, let’s say, but I’m also really thinking about what I’m going to do with them on Saturday, and my commute to work tomorrow. Government needs to be thinking 10, 20 years down the line: How do I create the greatest place for people to grow up? How do we create the greatest place for us to create opportunities? And I think New York, I think Seattle, I think a lot of parts of California are taking a short-term view on state growth. And I think it’s frustrating.”

A view of Charlotte, North Carolina, the biggest city in the Southeastern state. (iStock)

Serhant argued, however, that home purchase decisions are influenced by job creation, school quality, public safety and infrastructure reliability, pointing to growth in markets such as Charlotte, North Carolina.

“I think the fastest-growing city of the last year, and one of the first markets that we expanded into three years ago, is Charlotte, North Carolina. The Carolinas, I feel, are oftentimes overlooked in the news because they don’t get the clicks. And a lot of the news is written by people who live on the East Coast or the West Coast in the major cities,” he noted.

“And so they forget about what really drives the country, which is incredible job growth, great access to education and security, you know. Policy tends to affect everything else and get the headlines, but people move heavily for those three things.”

In an economy where capital and employment are geographically flexible, Serhant notes that real estate remains fundamentally hyperlocal and, ultimately, states and cities that create administrative friction risk losing investment to competing regions equipped for modern growth.

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“You buy based on the street corner, you buy based on that restaurant, that school, so on and so forth. And so investors and people who have the ability to move are now thinking about stretched markets. They don’t necessarily need to come to your city for a job. They don’t necessarily need to go to that state for grade schooling. They don’t necessarily need to go to that market and pay higher property or income taxes. They can be almost anywhere,” he said.

“The economy is global and it moves in milliseconds… And we are doing our small, small part in trying to reduce the friction in what is the largest asset class on earth, which is property, to kind of bring the country back to where it needs to be.”

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