PHONE and internet group TalkTalk began life as an independent company today when its shares started trading on the stock exchange.
The new entity, which employs 1,000 staff at a key call centre in Warrington, has been demerged from parent company Carphone Warehouse after its deal with US retail giant Best Buy to open a string of UK and European outlets, the first in Merseyside being in Aintree.
TalkTalk was launched in February, 2003, when it began providing residential fixed-line telecoms services.
Today, TalkTalk supplies telecommunications to 4.15m broadband customers through the TalkTalk and AOL Broadband brands and 160,000 businesses, via its Opal brand.
The Warrington operation provides services for both TalkTalk and Opal customers.
TalkTalk Group has offices in Preston and Irlam, near Manchester, which provide a substantial contribution to the North West economy.
Apart from a total of 2,000 employees across all its offices, TalkTalk has also invested £500m in its state-of-the-art network.
And it generated revenues of £1.4bn and £95m profit in the last financial year ending 2009.
Clive Dorsman, managing director for TalkTalk Technology, which is based in Irlam and provides the expertise to support the company’s huge network, said: “We’re going from strength to strength.”
The technology side of the TalkTalk operation is set to continue to grow, by adding at least 50 jobs to the 500 staff in its Irlam excellence centres.
