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As DSL growth ends in developed nations there are losers as well as winners. Sky, on the other hand, had a record quarter with 204K net adds and BT added 188K.  CEO Dido Harding has a colorful description of what went wrong. TalkTalk, she said, resembles a “teenage octopus. Like companies that have grown very fast . . . we don’t have control of our arms and legs, like a gangly teenager. And we have a lot of arms and legs. The teenage octopus will take a while to grow up.” (FT) 

    One primary problem was severe customer service problems after they took over Tiscali UK. "Customers ... have had a pretty rotten experience," Harding says. "We have described buying Tiscali as being like a snake that has eaten a goat. We are busy digesting an enormously complicated business." 

    One promising fact is that they have 85% of customers on their unbundled network. They are well along on a plan to unbundle 93% of the British population. Their network is now dark fiber and Gig-E, dramatically lowering their cost per bit. That allows them to include "unlimited" bandwidth in their $25/month service, which typically is 8-15 megabits (up to 24 megabits max.) Voice line required.

   The problems at TalkTalk have been pretty bad. They achieved "the dubious distinction of receiving the Daily Mail's wooden spoon as Britain's worst organisation for customer service. Our readers complained of rude, insensitive staff, calls not being returned and emai ls unanswered. Some TalkTalk customers were even pestered by debt collectors  -  after bills had been settled or contracts cancelled." Dow Jones adds OFCOM has launched a second investigation into their customer service. Harding insists it will get better, but that won't be easy after she just fired 590 people.