Tiscali plans to save USD52m in Italy; UK divestment talks still ongoing

Italian broadband ISP Tiscali plans to cut 250 jobs at its domestic unit, the company said in a statement yesterday, as reported by Reuters. The operator unveiled a new business plan aimed at making an overall reduction in operating costs of around EUR40 million (USD52 million) and improving profitability, via measures including restructuring and voluntary redundancies. The plan must now be discussed with trade unions. In addition, Tiscali said it is continuing to negotiate the sale of its UK subsidiary. Earlier this month Tiscali shut down its ADSL-based IPTV service in Italy, with poor subscriber take-up thought to be behind the decision to pull the service. It has not revealed any plans to cancel its British IPTV service, which has attracted investor interest from broadcaster and broadband provider BSkyB. However, in December it was reported that disagreements over the price of the UK unit of Cagliari-based Tiscali had caused BSkyB to withdraw from negotiations. Tiscali is believed to have expected to raise approximately GBP600 million (USD893 million) from the sale of the DSL-based operator, but BSkyB’s bid is understood to have been closer to GBP450 million.