Sky already supplies fixed phone line and broadband on top of its TV services in the UK, but
it's just announced it'll be gaining a few more customers. The company has
shaken hands with Telefonica UK to purchase
the latter's broadband and phone line business provided by the consumer-facing
O2 and BE brands. As you would imagine, big bucks will change hands: Sky plans
to fork over £180 million (around $273 million) right off the bat, and will
write a cheque for up to a further £20 million (circa $30 million)
"dependent upon the successful delivery and completion of the customer
migration process by Telefonica UK." Regulators will need to give the deal
the thumbs up before it's official, but if and when that happens, Sky will
become the second biggest ISP in the UK after adding over 500,000 new customers
to its books. Should everything progress as planned, the buyout will be
completed by the end of April, which gives Rupert Murdoch just enough time to carry out
the vault extension he'll need.
Update: If you're worried this transaction will
impact anything you're currently signed up to, you can probably rest easy. O2
has tweeted one of our editors to report "there will be no material change
to a customer's broadband service and no fundamental contract change." [Engadget]
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