INTERVIEW Talk Talk Business
“Our plan is to offer ubiquitous FTTP coverage throughout the UK, we will consume it
through Openreach but we will also consume it through other providers.”
Richard Thompson, Director of Partners at TalkTalk Business
Connectivity Matters
CBM: What is the ethos behind
Connectivity Matters?
Richard Thompson (RT): ere
is so much change going on the
industry, particularly in the next
two to ve years with the pivot
from copper to bre. Today is
all about getting our partners
together and having open
dialogue. We are trying to work
out ways where we can help our
partners with the transition.
I think we have been guilty
of giving partners functional
information in the past, i.e. a
product followed by a price. We
are trying to get away from that.
CBM: What are the challenges
for the Channel with FTTP?
RT: No one provider is going to
give you ubiquitous coverage.
Openreach has a product they
can oer in a limited footprint.
ere is a whole heap of altnets
that can divide it up. Our plan
is to oer ubiquitous FTTP
coverage throughout the UK,
we will consume it through
Openreach but we will also
consume it through other
providers. We are architecting
our systems so we can do that
and we think that is a key point
of dierentiation versus someone
like BT Wholesale for example.
ey will only be able to
consume it through Openreach.
We will simplify that interface
layer and then partners can buy
FTTP irrespective of who the
provider is at the same price
point. We will make that really
simple and clean to consume for
partners.
People talk about the
application layer a lot but
As we wave goodbye to our copper legacy, albeit incredibly slowly, the industry
is now in a position where it needs to push for full-fibre and embrace new
connectivity options on offer. At the recent TalkTalk Business Connectivity Matters
event, held at the Ministry of Sound in London, David Dungay spoke to Director of
Partners Richard Thompson about the demand for FTTP services
big data insights, specically on
broadband. We are transferring
that into ethernet services and
the other product ranges also.
It is transformational in terms
of reducing churn, reducing
operating costs, it’s really
powerful.
ere isn’t one use case that
could be applied to every single
partner. Nick Hill runs our
data team at TalkTalk Business,
I would encourage partners
to engage with Nick and his
team. We would get that team
face to face with partners and
look at their business and really
understand what they are trying
to achieve. We would then look
at how we leverage the network
insights coupled with the
partners localised data and how
the two can come together.
then forget the underlying
infrastructure. You can’t have
all these great applications
unless the plumbing is right. We
do describe ourselves as great
plumbers. FTTP and a full-bre
Britain is going to be critical in
driving the economy and UK
business. It is a big transition
and it requires TalkTalk, as well
as our competitors, to drive that
agenda.
CBM: What about 5G? What
impact will that have on the
market?
RT: I don’t want to say a lot on
this but, will 5G provide a whole
host of benets to businesses?
Absolutely. Will the xed line
providers still dominate the
connectivity market in that
space? I think so yes. ere is
no reason why the two can’t
co-exist, but I do think there is a
lot more around 5G technology
which needs to be proven rst.
CBM: Where are the
opportunities for partners
right now?
RT: I think it’s important to align
yourself with the right partner
at the moment. ey need to be
thinking about who they can
grow into new technologies with
and align to someone in the right
space, with the scale to deliver,
and with the portals and APIs
which will make it really easy to
consume these new technologies.
I also think there is great
opportunity to add P&L benet
with insights. We are delivering
some real tangible dierences
within our business through
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44 | Comms Business Magazine | July 2019 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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