- BT swallowed TalkTalk via a pre-pack administration over the weekend, absorbing the challenger brand that once acted as the irritant to BT's Openreach broadband operation.
- Culture secretary Lisa Nandy blessed the deal by issuing a little-used public interest notice, drawing accusations of a cosy stitch-up from rival Virgin Media O2.
- The article argues ministers had no realistic alternative: a chaotic TalkTalk collapse without a rescue plan for customers risked worse outcomes than allowing the dominant player to absorb it.
Quotes
“All the characteristics of a stitch-up masked as a rescue deal in the public interest”
“it’s hard to see what the culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, who gave her blessing by issuing a little-used public interest notice, was supposed to do differently”