TalkTalk Telecom to buy Shell’s broadband customer base from Octopus - report

TalkTalk Telecom will reportedly buy nearly half a million retail customers following Shell's decision to exit the British residential energy market.

According to Sky News, the company has reached a deal to absorb the 480,000-strong broadband customer base of Shell Energy Retail UK from Octopus Energy.

It was understood that an agreement, for which the consideration was still unclear, could be announced within days.

TalkTalk already serves the former Shell customers through its wholesale platform, meaning the deal will not inflate its customer base of about four million people. However, it will give Sir Charles Dunstone’s group the retail margin generated by the 480,000 consumers, Sky said.

Octopus Energy agreed earlier this year to buy the Shell household energy business, comprising about 1.3m British homes, in a deal which catapulted it further up the rankings of gas and electricity suppliers. Run by Greg Jackson, Octopus Energy is now valued by investors at several billion pounds.

TalkTalk, meanwhile, is in the middle of a broader restructuring which involves it being broken up into three distinct companies, including its wholesale platform and consumer base.

The other division, which serves business customers, was sold in October to a special purpose vehicle controlled by TalkTalk's shareholders.