News

Opal set to expand presence in data market

TalkTalk group has completed the acquisition of Tiscali UK in a £236 million cash deal that will open up new opportunities for wholesale partners of its B2B division, Opal.

Opal’s existing 350 wholesale partners will reap the benefits of the acquisition, with Tiscali’s existing IPVPN proposition allowing Opal to provide a strong multi-site and home worker offering. Tiscali’s existing partners will also benefit, gaining access to Opal’s account management support infrastructure, flexible tariffs and range of growth incentives.

The move also introduces Opal to some valuable relationships with data focused partners, which will continue to be developed and strengthened. Opal already has a strong heritage of working with partners to develop and distribute market leading propositions for customers, recently winning the Comms Business Awards channel accolade of ‘Network Operator of the Year.’

Britain’s fourth largest internet service provider, Tiscali was first to market with DSL MPLS with quality of service, which allowed prioritised performance by class of service. Opal will use this heritage to accelerate the company’s product development roadmap; building on its existing premium broadband product to offer customers prioritised business grade broadband as standard.

Paul Lawton, managing director at Opal, commented: “We are very excited about the opportunities that the combination of these two businesses will create. Tiscali’s technical heritage and existing product set aligns well with our current development plans, and the company’s partners will provide Opal with access to a new set of data focused resellers, something we consider to be critical to our future growth.”