TalkTalk loses over 100,000 customers following hack
It did, however, see half a million people take one of its free upgrades.
It was inevitable that last October's cyber attack would drive some customers away from TalkTalk. At the time, the extent of the damage was unclear but the company has finally shared some numbers as part of its latest trading update. The provider says that in its third quarter, 101,000 subscribers (95,000 of which were directly tied to the attack) cancelled their contracts, costing the company as much as £60 million.
The exceptional costs -- including IT, customer response lines and other charges associated with the attack -- totalled between £40 million and £45 million. The remaining £15 million is attributed to trading losses. It's not all doom and gloom for the company, though: revenues grew by 1.8 percent and 489,000 customers accepted TalkTalk's offer of a free upgrade, which it believes helped raise consumer confidence and ultimately stopped some customers from leaving.
While TalkTalk's operations have largely been "dominated by the cyber attack," investors are positive that the company has put the worst behind it. That's led to a small rise in TalkTalk's share price, which plummeted following the October announcement and hasn't really recovered since. With BT currently the subject of a regulatory review, TalkTalk believes decisions could go in its favour, allowing it to capitalize on its position as "the value for money telecoms provider" in the UK market.
