Pipex Broadband Bought by Tiscali for £210m

Tiscali broadband have bought the broadband and voice division of fellow ISP Pipex in a deal reputed to be worth £210m. The purchase (subject to approval from the Office of Fair Trading) will see Tiscali’s share of the UK broadband market rise to around 15% making them the third biggest ISP behind “the big two” of Virgin Media and BT Total Broadband.

Pipex currently have around one million customers, with around 250,000 signed up for one of their broadband and phone bundles, 570,000 using standalone broadband and 650,000 using their phone services.

Pipex are the 7th biggest UK broadband provider in terms of market share yet they have been up for sale since early March 2007. A bidding war was predicted with all the major players looking to increase their market share but it appears Tiscali have sealed the deal which is great timing considering they are about to launch their digital TV packages shortly.

Tiscali predict that they could make savings of up to £150m by merging the two broadband companies by benefiting from synergies and efficiencies via network integration and customer migration.