Although TalkTalk, which launched in February 2003, will retain its current ownership, it will operate as a separate business.
The decision is intended to afford Carphone Warehouse greater impartiality when recommending broadband services to customers, while TalkTalk will be able to concentrate on signing up its own customers.
In recent years, TalkTalk has acquired a number of rival companies, including the AOL broadband business, to increase its subscriber base, and is now keen to add Tiscali to its haul.
The demerging of TalkTalk throws the future of the agency arrangements for both Carphone Warehouse and TalkTalk into doubt. Both brands' creative accounts are handled by CHI & Partners, while below-the-line has been managed by Hall Moore CHI as well as WDMP and Kitcatt Nohr Alexander Shaw, which has handled several direct projects. Media is handled by Matters Media, CHI & Partners Media and Trinity Communications.
It is understood that once the two businesses have been successfully separated, there will be personnel and structural changes. However, the position of Carphone Warehouse marketing director Michelle Henderson, who replaced Dominic Rowell on an interim basis at the end of 2007 following his departure, will not be affected by the spin-off.
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