Member Info for fleccy

TalkTalk has been up for sale more times than I can remember, it could be marketed as an annual event like the January or Black Friday sales.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jul/15/virgin-media-o2-explores-bid-for-rival-talktalk

https://www.techradar.com/news/virgin-media-o2-allegedly-makes-billion-pound-takeover-offer-for-talktalk

https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2023/08/14/sky-on-the-line-as-talktalk-contender/

https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2024/02/12/virgin-media-in-talktalk-consumer-talks/

https://www.mobileeurope.co.uk/vodafone-wont-pay-3-billion-for-low-quality-operator-talk-talk-analysts/

https://www.telecomtv.com/content/access-evolution/m-a-rumours-swirl-around-uk-telco-talktalk-49619/

I'll believe it when I see it. I'm sceptical Vodafone would want TalkTalk when it's dying a slow death anyway.

Thanks Carrington, I do know about Trading View and do look at it at times. BT's share price has form for dropping when articles like this are released; Except in the past the share price dipped and kept dropping, on this occasion the market seems to be recovering more quickly. I'll have to await further articles on this, since I can't see behind FT's paywall, but on previous occasions when VM was touted as looking at a takeover of TalkTalk, it came to nothing.

In my opinion, previous rumours of TalkTalk takeovers were attempts to shake out other potential bidders, time will tell if the same occurs this time. Personally I don't see the business case for Vodafone buying TalkTalk's consumer business, unless they're getting it for next to nothing. Going off previous press releases, I get the impression that TalkTalk is a slow motion car crash, any takeover terms might include debt and I expect there'd be costs around transferring customers between platforms.

Clearly Carrington wins the prize, BT's price drop will almost certainly be because of the FT article stating that VOD/3 are bidding for TalkTalk's consumer business.

"Do you have any idea how long you’ve been repeating the same old same old about BTs prospects ?"

You're correct, the narrative I've been consistently pushing is that BT is a cost cutting play and not a revenue growth stock; Funnily enough, the same narrative is now appearing in the financial media.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-15836735/BT-ramps-cost-cutting-spree-updates-dividend-policy-turnaround-plan-continues.html

Now that BT's Capex is about to significantly tail off, the company should start to see Cash Flow increasing over time and my guess is the market will have to rerate the stock upwards over the coming years.

Total Spent . . . . . . . Buyback cash left . . Percentage left

£339,720,084.01 . . £10,279,915.99 . . . . . . . 2.94%

Bidboy you've been saying the same thing for years under various usernames, yet no bid has materialised, even when BT was a lot cheaper than it is now. By just repeating the same narrative, over and over and over again, you just look foolish. Your constant repetitive "Roll on the bid" catchphrase isn't even a windup, it simply highlights a possible issue with your mental state, have you considered getting a diagnosis for this nonsensical obsession driving you to write meaningless posts on an insignificant forum? Maybe you can come up with something original worthy of discussion, but I doubt it.

Bidboy you've been saying the same thing for years under various usernames, yet no bid has materialised, even when BT was a lot cheaper than it is now. By just repeating the same narrative, over and over and over again, you just look foolish. Your constant repetitive "Roll on the bid" catchphrase isn't even a windup, it simply highlights a possible issue with your mental state, have you considered getting a diagnosis for this nonsensical obsession driving you to write meaningless posts on an insignificant forum? Maybe you can come up with something original worthy of discussion, but I doubt it.

"The new facilities will play a central role in BT’s journey to build secure, resilient and future‑ready networks. They will help us to explore optical networks in space: understanding how light‑based communications behave beyond Earth’s atmosphere, an area of rapidly growing global interest. And they will simulate real‑world weather conditions: from fog and rain to hurricane‑level winds, helping us understand how free‑space optical links perform in challenging environments.

Importantly, they will also help BT in our journey - developing quantum‑secure communications: protecting networks from the cyber risks posed by quantum computers which will make traditional encryption methods vulnerable.

As the UK works towards deploying advanced quantum networks by 2035, space‑based quantum secure networks are a critical part of that future. They offer a scalable way to deliver secure quantum communications globally, overcoming the physical distance limits of terrestrial systems. Having already delivered the UK’s first metro‑scale quantum‑secure network trial in London, the labs enable BT to take the next step: testing quantum‑secure links between ground and space"

https://www.bt.com/about/bt/research-and-development/tech-and-innovation-hub/qod-lab

Haha, I had a couple of pages open and posted this in the wrong forum. Apologies for posting this in the LGEN forum.

"The new facilities will play a central role in BT’s journey to build secure, resilient and future‑ready networks. They will help us to explore optical networks in space: understanding how light‑based communications behave beyond Earth’s atmosphere, an area of rapidly growing global interest. And they will simulate real‑world weather conditions: from fog and rain to hurricane‑level winds, helping us understand how free‑space optical links perform in challenging environments.

Importantly, they will also help BT in our journey - developing quantum‑secure communications: protecting networks from the cyber risks posed by quantum computers which will make traditional encryption methods vulnerable.

As the UK works towards deploying advanced quantum networks by 2035, space‑based quantum secure networks are a critical part of that future. They offer a scalable way to deliver secure quantum communications globally, overcoming the physical distance limits of terrestrial systems. Having already delivered the UK’s first metro‑scale quantum‑secure network trial in London, the labs enable BT to take the next step: testing quantum‑secure links between ground and space"

https://www.bt.com/about/bt/research-and-development/tech-and-innovation-hub/qod-lab

No I missed the boat on ex dividend and the subsequent short lived drop. I believe the size of the buybacks following ex dividend raised the price, so I built the spreadsheet to monitor the buybacks. I'm considering jumping in once the buybacks are completed, dependent on price action.

I've just updated the spreadsheet sparhawk, here's the latest:

Total Spent . . . . . . . . Buyback cash left . .Percentage left

£334,517,901.36 . . . . £15,482,098.64 . . . . . 4.42%

I don't invest in US Tech, but this Space X IPO is probably the speculative IPO ever. There's a ton of video's on YouTube explaining why this is overvalued.

"My guess is that this takeover will be waved through and Ofcom will simply cross its fingers that "altnet consolidation" will save its bacon"

I'm of the opposite opinion, CityFibre will almost certainly take this to court if the CMA waves it through. I believe the CMA will have to take this to Phase 2.

Total Spent . . . . . . . Buyback cash left . . Percentage left

£332,042,540.63 . . . £17,957,459.37 . . . . . 5.13%

This will continue until the CMA make their decision about either allowing the Netomnia takeover at Phase 1, or pushing it into a Phase 2 investigation.

https://www.lightreading.com/fttx/openreach-fiber-monopoly-is-a-growing-threat-says-nexfibre-ceo

Like I said, Nexfibre are really pushing to get this takeover approved in Phase 1, will they get their wish?

" The report (download) has been commissioned and funded by nexfibre. Assembly Research claims this doesn’t impact their “independent” analysis, findings, conclusions or opinions, but it did seem heavily geared toward highlighting the merits of nexfibre’s Netomnia deal"

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2026/06/assembly-research-examines-uk-full-fibre-market-and-nexfibres-netomnia-deal.html

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/nexfibre-and-the-next-chapter-in-uk-fibre

https://nationalwholesalechallenger.co.uk/the-next-chapter-in-uk-fibre-assembly-research-report/

The buybacks are likely to complete within the next two weeks at the current cash burn rate:

Total Spent . . . . . . Buyback cash left . . Percentage left

£322,955,990.63 . . £27,044,009.37 . . . . . 7.73%

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSFzlU7UMjm0pSGJJGhFwkllG3Se8g1naKstHKS3tWkxQ9166zD6JfqF-hOF5KOT9azcZ1DHYlI2BJz/pubhtml

If the CMA shows some creativity in giving the takeover a free pass and waving it through, then OFCOM can't restrict Openreach offers since the regulators have to be shown to exhibit fair play policies. NexFibre are trying to strongarm this through at Phase 1, but CityFibre and Openreach will make this takeover really difficult. If the deal is passed the CityFibre will like take legal action through the Competition Appeal Tribunal and Openreach will stretch the regulatory envelope until it bursts.

My best guess is that the odds of the deal going through are slim, it might depend on how flexible NexFibre is in accepting whatever remedies are required to pass the deal.

Here is the new Openreach offers:

"The new wholesale commercial package announced by Openreach on 1 June 2026 introduces three core full-fibre offers alongside strategic extensions to existing infrastructure discounts.

The deal is designed to give Communications Providers (CPs/ISPs) like Sky, TalkTalk, and Vodafone the pricing flexibility to compete aggressively for retail customers—particularly in territories where non-BT full-fibre networks are expanding.

The official commercial structure consists of the following components:

1. The Frontbook ARPU Cap

The Mechanism: Openreach is placing an average revenue ceiling on what a CP pays across its customer base for eligible new and upgraded fibre lines.

The Price: If a CP successfully drives customer upgrades to faster, premium packages and the average wholesale revenue across those new/upgraded lines exceeds £19.32 per month, Openreach caps the effective wholesale fee at exactly £19.32.Launch Date: 1 July 2026.

2. The 2.5G ONT "Box Swap" OfferThe Mechanism: To facilitate ultra-high-speed consumer tiers (such as 1.8 Gbps packages) without prohibitive hardware overheads, Openreach is waiving installation fees for network hardware.

The Discount: The standard £90 hardware swap fee to upgrade a home's existing Optical Network Terminal (the wall connection box) to a 2.5G ONT is completely removed.Launch Date: 1 July 2026.

3. The Incremental "New to Openreach" National Offer

The Mechanism: Volume-based sliding-scale discounts applied to lines that are brand new to the Openreach network—targeting households migrating from completely separate infrastructure or standalone mobile/satellite connections.

The Structure: A three-tier incentive system where CPs unlock deeper wholesale discounts and longer discount durations the higher they exceed their pre-calculated "baseline" customer addition volumes.

Launch Date: 1 October 2026.

4. The Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) & Nexfibre Geographic Rebate

The Mechanism: A geographically targeted sweetener layered directly on top of the national incremental volume deal.

The Discount: CPs receive an additional £50 one-off rebate for every incremental full-fibre connection they successfully win above baseline thresholds.

The Target: This applies exclusively to postcode areas where Openreach operates in direct, head-to-head physical competition with Virgin Media O2 and nexfibre.

Launch Date: 1 October 2026.5. Infrastructure Extension (10Gbps Cablelink)The Extension: Separate from consumer lines, Openreach extended its existing wholesale discount on 10Gbps Cablelink products.

The Detail: For ISPs using these massive data pipes exclusively to backhaul Layer 2 FTTP traffic (not legacy FTTC), the discounted price of £962.49—originally scheduled to expire in September 2026—is officially locked in until 31 March 2027"