Broadband ISP TalkTalk UK Sued by Ovo Over Troubled 2022 Customer Sale UPDATE
Debt strained internet provider TalkTalk, which is currently trying to sell off its various divisions again (here), is being sued by another financially strained company, Ovo Energy, following a 2022 deal that saw the ISP acquire Ovo’s base of 135,000 (approximately) former SSE Phone & Broadband customers for an undisclosed sum (here and here).
Just to recap. Ovo originally acquired SSE’s household energy and broadband business for £500m in January 2020 (here). But the deal came just before most UK energy providers were hit by a tsunami of problems due to the COVID-19 pandemic and then surging energy prices. Ovo itself, which continues to grapple with financial strains even today, ended up cutting lots of jobs and re-focusing toward their core energy business.
However, despite the deal supposedly reaching completion in October 2022, problems soon began to emerge. According to CityAM, the deal required TalkTalk to pay an upfront sum and committed them to further payments tied to performance milestones. But a dispute emerged after large numbers of customers left the service, thus undermining the value of the deal and prompting TalkTalk to refuse a payment for the remaining sum.
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The case, which was filed on 24th March 2026 (LM-2026-000119), is due to be heard in the London Circuit Commercial Court. The defendants in the case include TalkTalk Finco Limited, TalkTalk Holdings Limited and Origin Communications Limited (Origin Broadband). But given the slow pace of the UK’s legal system and the complexity of such hearings, it may be a while before we hear an outcome.
ISPreview has asked both Ovo Energy and TalkTalk to comment and await their response, although it’s not uncommon for companies involved in a legal dispute to decline such requests.
UPDATE 13th April 2026 @ 10am
TalkTalk declined to comment, while OVO itself merely confirmed that the dispute relates to funds that it says are owed to OVO for the sale of the telecoms business in 2022.
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Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Is it known why customers left in large numbers? If it’s just because people didn’t want to take a service from Talk Talk I don’t see how they can refuse to pay, Talk Talk should’ve done their due diligence on customer sentiment. If it was a problem with the switchover that was Ovo’s fault then maybe Talk Talk have a point.
The state of SSE billing system was not disclosed properly at point of sale. A large percentage of customers weren’t being billed then suddenly were caught up with and left. I suspect this will be the legal side of it.
Thanks Danny. Sounds like Talk Talk do have a point then!
Telecommunications companies aren’t the golden goose they used to be, especially if their customer care and retention departments are poorly run, taking over a business that has shown to be poor at that metric is a walk away.
Fixing those things can be nearly impossible, due to legacy management and processes, especially with hardwired computer systems that need either extensive upgrades or complete replacement.
And at the end of it, OVO will be given a generous settlement of £5, which is all that is currently in TalkTalk’s bank account.
Bit like pot calling kettle black, both #### companies having a go at each other