News TalkTalk

TalkTalk Offers Unlimited Mobile Data For £12 A Month

TalkTalk offers cheap mobile data to customers as part of quad-play push

Broadband

CityFibre, Sky And TalkTalk Complete First Phase Of York FTTP Rollout

Partners are encouraged by York FTTP progress and hope to expand nationwide

Piccadilly circus london bus night art © Konstanttin Shutterstock

Broadband

BT Says EU Should Let Governments Fund Urban Broadband – Rivals Disagree

BT says BDUK should be allowed to help cities, but rivals say private sector should solve issues

Broadband

TalkTalk Admits Customer Account Data Breach

TalkTalk says small but significant number of customers are affected but stresses no payment details have been stolen

Quad-Play And SMBs Boost TalkTalk As FTTP Rollout Begins

TalkTalk boasts of strong quad-play and business broadband momentum as work on York FTTP joint-venture gets underway

Carriers

TalkTalk Follows Sky Lead, Blocks Porn By Default

HomeSafe will offer protection from adult content as standard to TalkTalk customers

Broadband

TalkTalk Business Offers ‘Flexible’ Voice And Data Package In Bid To Beat BT

TalkTalk Business lets firms add and remove phone lines on demand, 20Mbps and inclusive minutes for 'less than' BT equivalent

TalkTalk Business Reveals Fibre, 4G And Converged Ambitions for 2015

TalkTalk Business MD Charles Bligh reveals how half-price broadband, business 4G and VoIP will allow it to better serve the enterprise market

Broadband

TalkTalk Buys Blinkbox And Tesco Broadband Business

Tesco flogs Blinkbox as TalkTalk moves to strengthen its television service

Broadband

Talk2Go App Lets TalkTalk Business Users Make Landline Calls On Their Mobile

TalkTalk Business says users will never miss a call again as next generation network sees busiest day in its history

TalkTalk Replaces Vodafone With O2 4G MVNO Deal

TalkTalk says new MVNO partnership will boost business and consumer mobile services and could let it create hybrid mobile network using home routers

TalkTalk Adds More Broadband Customers As B2B, Mobile And TV Demand Grows

TalkTalk says it is well placed to take advantage of 'quad-play' consumer demand and small business growth

Broadband

Argos Offers Free Broadband And Tablets To Help Elderly Get Online

Argos Internet Workshops aim to help educate the 9.5m Britons who still have no access to the Internet

Networks

TalkTalk Signals SMB Ambitions With £4 Broadband Services

TalkTalk Business's Charles Bligh says TalkTalk can save SMBs £600 a year if they switch from BT

Broadband

TalkTalk Aims To Connect 60 Percent Of The UK With 1Gbps FTTP Broadband

TalkTalk discusses plans to connect 10m homes with gigabit fibre as part of national rollout

Advertising

TalkTalk Chastised Over Budget Broadband Advert

Another week, another misleading broadband advert as TalkTalk is pinged by advertising watchdog

Mobility

Ofcom: EE Gets Most Broadband And Mobile Complaints, TalkTalk Worst For Landline

Ofcom hopes complaints report will help people choose their communications providers

Broadband

BT, TalkTalk Welcome Ofcom Fibre Price Consultation

Regulator to examine fibre broadband pricing, after it rejects TalkTalk complaint against BT's fibre access charges

Broadband

TalkTalk TV And B2B Units Boost Revenues As Fibre Demand Remains ‘Modest’

TalkTalk got 134,000 fibre customers during financial year, less than BT adds in Q4, but outlines plans for BT independence

Broadband

TalkTalk And Sky Challenge BT With York Fibre Network

TalkTalk, Sky And CityFibre join forces to offer FTTP services in York and model is set to expand to other cities

BT And Orange Named Ofcom’s Most Complained About Service Providers

BT narrowly takes title ahead of EE in broadband, while EE-owned Orange and T-Mobile struggle in the mobile division

Broadband

Which? Calls On ISPs To Deliver Advertised Speeds And Better Customer Service

Which? launches better broadband campaign, after research finds UK customers get super slow service, not super fast network connections

Telephone exchange copper loop unbundling © pixbox77 Shutterstock

Broadband

BT Calls For End To TalkTalk And Sky’s £623m Copper Broadband ‘Subsidies’

BT says if Ofcom does not act over unbundled lines, the UK broadband market could be distorted to the tune of £1 billion

Mobility

TalkTalk And Three Lend Support For Ofcom Reform

Three, TalkTalk and consumer groups say Ofcom decisions are too easily blocked by big companies

Broadband

BT Complaints Rise Following BT Sport Launch

Complaints about BT's landline, broadband and pay TV service increase, according to Ofcom

Broadband

TalkTalk Business Pitches Cheap Ethernet Over FTTC Service

TalkTalk Business offers a symmetric Ethernet service without laying fibre to your door

Charles Bligh TalkTalk Business me / Company / Years in IT / Areas of expertise? I have been the Managing Director at TalkTalk Business since 2011 and have been in the IT industry for 22 years, starting at IBM as an Engineer. From there I held a number of senior project management, sales and senior leadership roles in professional services and product related businesses. I have worked across Asia for 4 years (based in Tokyo) and have spent the last 5 years in the UK. What has been your favourite project so far? This one! Joining TalkTalk Business and working over the past two years to further improve the customer experience has been both fulfilling and rewarding, but the best is yet to come. I like to say TalkTalk Business is the best kept secret in the industry. We are just at the beginning. What tech were you involved with ten years ago? Ten years ago, back in early 2000, I was working with companies to help them view the web as a revenue generating opportunity, not just to reduce costs. It all sounds incredibly naive now when you think about how far we’ve come. What tech do you expect to be using in ten years' time? In ten years’ time I would expect to be using, flexible (bendable) touch screen devices integrated into all aspects of my life, at home, on the move and at work. Who's your tech hero? My tech hero is Gordon Moore, the man who came up with Moore Law, which says that everything doubles in performance every two years. The law challenges us to drive innovation while relying on the idea that everything will be smaller, faster and more connected. Who's your tech villain? This is a tough one, I am not sure I would single out one person. I’ve always been a very ambitious person, so when it comes to technology, I think it would have to be any kind of person who says it can’t be done. What's your favourite technology ever made? Which do you use most? The web is my favourite technology and my favourite gadget is my tablet (iPad!), which I use for all kinds of things, to stream movies, surf the web and listen to music. What is your budget outlook going forward? Flat? Growing? Substantial growth! We’ve had a strong first quarter of our financial year and we’re seeing increased demand for our data and carrier services. Apart from your own, which company do you admire most and why? Companies that provide excellent customer service on a sustained basis. At TalkTalk Business we put good customer service at the heart of everything we do, so I value that trait when I see it in other organisations. Barclays, who won an award for Best Customer Experience Centre of the Year last year, is a great example. What’s the greatest challenge for an IT company/department today? One of the greatest challenges the technology industry is facing today is managing the fast growth of mobility and how to harness it in the workplace. The need for mobility to drive business objectives, now combined with the added device-driven dimension of BYOD, presents quite a network and security challenge for businesses of all sizes. To Cloud or not to Cloud? For me, the answer is undoubtedly to Cloud. But which cloud? Your own private or public or hybrid? Businesses are moving into a world where the cloud is used for almost all enterprise applications. The cloud allows companies to use a shared environment, makes it easier to tap into common interest data and provides access to the computing power of hundreds of servers, without the expense. That isn’t to say working in the cloud doesn’t present its own challenges, but with the right technology choices, secure flexible network and ICT partners, they’re not insurmountable. What did you want to be when you were a child? It wasn’t what I wanted to be, but more of where I wanted to be. I wanted to live and work around the world.Name / Company / Years in IT / Areas of expertise? I have been the Managing Director at TalkTalk Business since 2011 and have been in the IT industry for 22 years, starting at IBM as an Engineer. From there I held a number of senior project management, sales and senior leadership roles in professional services and product related businesses. I have worked across Asia for 4 years (based in Tokyo) and have spent the last 5 years in the UK. What has been your favourite project so far? This one! Joining TalkTalk Business and working over the past two years to further improve the customer experience has been both fulfilling and rewarding, but the best is yet to come. I like to say TalkTalk Business is the best kept secret in the industry. We are just at the beginning. What tech were you involved with ten years ago? Ten years ago, back in early 2000, I was working with companies to help them view the web as a revenue generating opportunity, not just to reduce costs. It all sounds incredibly naive now when you think about how far we’ve come. What tech do you expect to be using in ten years' time? In ten years’ time I would expect to be using, flexible (bendable) touch screen devices integrated into all aspects of my life, at home, on the move and at work. Who's your tech hero? My tech hero is Gordon Moore, the man who came up with Moore Law, which says that everything doubles in performance every two years. The law challenges us to drive innovation while relying on the idea that everything will be smaller, faster and more connected. Who's your tech villain? This is a tough one, I am not sure I would single out one person. I’ve always been a very ambitious person, so when it comes to technology, I think it would have to be any kind of person who says it can’t be done. What's your favourite technology ever made? Which do you use most? The web is my favourite technology and my favourite gadget is my tablet (iPad!), which I use for all kinds of things, to stream movies, surf the web and listen to music. What is your budget outlook going forward? Flat? Growing? Substantial growth! We’ve had a strong first quarter of our financial year and we’re seeing increased demand for our data and carrier services. Apart from your own, which company do you admire most and why? Companies that provide excellent customer service on a sustained basis. At TalkTalk Business we put good customer service at the heart of everything we do, so I value that trait when I see it in other organisations. Barclays, who won an award for Best Customer Experience Centre of the Year last year, is a great example. What’s the greatest challenge for an IT company/department today? One of the greatest challenges the technology industry is facing today is managing the fast growth of mobility and how to harness it in the workplace. The need for mobility to drive business objectives, now combined with the added device-driven dimension of BYOD, presents quite a network and security challenge for businesses of all sizes. To Cloud or not to Cloud? For me, the answer is undoubtedly to Cloud. But which cloud? Your own private or public or hybrid? Businesses are moving into a world where the cloud is used for almost all enterprise applications. The cloud allows companies to use a shared environment, makes it easier to tap into common interest data and provides access to the computing power of hundreds of servers, without the expense. That isn’t to say working in the cloud doesn’t present its own challenges, but with the right technology choices, secure flexible network and ICT partners, they’re not insurmountable. What did you want to be when you were a child? It wasn’t what I wanted to be, but more of where I wanted to be. I wanted to live and work around the world.

Cloud

IT Life: Talking With TalkTalk’s Business Head

Charles Bligh loves the cloud, the web and his iPad

Broadband

Ofcom Proposes One Month Broadband Contracts And Easier Changes

Ofcom wants the cost of switching provider to tumble

Marketing

Internet Watch Foundation Granted Greater Power And £1m Boost

The Internet Watch Foundation will now actively seek out those creating and sharing illegal content on the Web, Maria Miller announces

Broadband

TalkTalk Grows Revenue And Digital TV Market Share

The telecoms provider adds new TV customers faster than Sky