It comes as TalkTalk looks to sell its entire consumer business
Thousands of British households that relied on TalkTalk for a broadband connection have been sold to new startup Rise Fibre overnight. The deal saw 120,000 TalkTalk broadband customers offloaded to the fledgling full-fibre internet provider in a bid to raise funds to shore up its balance sheet, The Daily Telegraph reports.
TalkTalk is struggling with debts worth £1.4 billion, forcing the telecom brand to take some drastic action to bring in revenue. The deal with Rise Fibre marks the second time this year that TalkTalk has offloaded subscribers, following a £5 million deal with Utility Warehouse for 29,000 broadband subscribers.
Although these transactions have provided the broadband company with much-needed funds, they've intensified speculation over whether TalkTalk can secure a buyer for the remainder of its consumer business.
TalkTalk is believed to be exploring a sale of its wholesale division, called Platform X.
Speaking about the struggles for TalkTalk, New Street Research analyst James Ratzer told The Daily Telegraph: "The more these piecemeal customer disposals occur and the organic TalkTalk consumer base shrinks further, the size of the remaining base decreases further and will therefore continue to raise the question of whether it becomes possible to consider an acquisition of the whole of TalkTalk consumer."
The deal with Rise Fibre, which predominantly offers broadband to those connected to CityFibre’s wholesale network, which is a full-fibre challenger to the likes of BT-owned Openreach and Virgin Media O2's nationwide infrastructure, more than doubles the new upstart's subscriber base to almost a quarter of a million people.
Steve Wilson, CEO of Rise Fibre, said: “Reaching almost a quarter of a million customers so quickly is a fantastic milestone and shows that people are ready for a different kind of broadband provider.
"Customers want better service, simpler products and a company that’s easy to deal with. That’s exactly why we created Rise Fibre. The acquisition of TalkTalk customers will help us bring the Rise Fibre experience to even more people across the UK.
"But we’re only getting started. As we continue to grow, we’ll keep customer experience at the heart of everything we do."
In the last two years, Rise Fibre has seen its internal teams triple in size, creating more than 120 new jobs in the UK, with additional colleagues supporting our customers from South Africa.
Headquartered in Greater Manchester, the challenger brand has earned industry recognition, including two UK Customer Experience Gold Awards and excellent Trustpilot ratings. Meanwhile, its executive leadership team was named Executive Leadership Team of the Year at the UK Fibre Awards in 2025 and 2026.
For its part, TalkTalk previously confirmed that its break-up would be complete by the end of this summer. Recently-merged telecom VodafoneThree is believed to have tabled a bid for the remainder of the broadband business.
It was only September last year when TalkTalk relaunched with a bold new brand identity based around "electric green and shocking pink tones, designed to reflect its challenger positioning in the UK Wi-Fi market". The broadband brand launched a series of adverts across digital, broadcast, and outdoor to drum-up interest in its deals.
Speaking at the time, TalkTalk Chief Executive Susie Buckridge said: "We’re returning to our challenger roots, delivering reliable Wi-Fi for all our customers at the right price, at the same time as challenging ourselves to find new ways of delighting our customers.
"Our new look website, strengthened by our brilliant new-look brand and engaging marketing campaign, are just the latest demonstration of that, and signal our intent to continue to shake up the industry on behalf of our customers."
