TalkTalk signals change of focus

The chief executive of broadband firm TalkTalk today said the company would switch focus from boosting customer numbers to improving efficiency and product ranges.

Dido Harding said the company would expand its unbundled network – lines using TalkTalk’s own equipment in the local telephone exchange, which bypass BT – in a bid to improve services.

The strategy marks a shift away from founder Charles Dunstone’s drive for customers, and follows a slowdown in subscriber additions.

TalkTalk, which sponsors 'The X Factor' and runs adverts throughout the hit ITV show, only added 18,000 customers in the three months to September 30, down from 34,000 in the quarter to June.

It also said it expects the customer base to be broadly flat in the second half of the year.