UK ISP TalkTalk has sold 120,000 of its customers to CVC-backed Rise Fibre.

Financial terms of the deal were not revealed, though for Rise Fibre, the acquisition has expanded its customer base to 250,000.

The company, which only launched last year, has built out its customer base through the use of several networks operated by the likes of BT, CityFibre, Community Fibre, Trooli, Freedom Fibre, and 4th Utility.

“Reaching almost a quarter of a million customers so quickly is a fantastic milestone and shows that people are ready for a different kind of broadband provider,” said Steve Wilson, CEO of Rise Fibre.

“The acquisition of TalkTalk customers will help us bring the Rise Fibre experience to even more people across the UK. But we’re only getting started. As we continue to grow, we’ll keep customer experience at the heart of everything we do.”

Wilson added that Rise Fibre has ambitions to reach one million customers, with further investment set to come from CVC DIF.

But what about TalkTalk?

While Rise Fibre has strong ambitions to grow out its customer base, the acquisition raises more questions around TalkTalk’s future.

TalkTalk, which is currently the fifth-largest broadband provider in the UK, behind BT Group, Sky, Virgin Media O2, and Vodafone, has struggled in recent years.

The ISP has seen its customer base shrink to 1.75 million from 2.5 million in 2023, while it has also reduced its overall headcount by 20 percent, including the loss of 130 jobs at its Salford consumer division in December.

It had been reported in June that VodafoneThree had submitted an offer to buy TalkTalk’s consumer business in an effort to bolster its home broadband footprint, though this has since gone silent.

Last year, the company, founded by Sir Charles Dunstone, agreed a £120m ($165.7m) capital injection from an existing shareholder.

In 2021, Toscafund Asset Management, previously the second-largest shareholder in the company, completed a takeover of TalkTalk for £1.1bn ($1.49bn).

Two years later, the company split its business into three units: B2B Wholesale Platform, TalkTalk Consumer, and TalkTalk Business Direct, before TalkTalk sold the latter to TFP Telecoms Limited (TFP), a special purpose vehicle controlled by the main shareholders of TalkTalk Telecom Group Limited (TTG).

TalkTalk declined to comment to DCD when asked for comment.