Tiscali moves into quad-play with Toucan Mobile

Tiscali UK is planning to rebrand Toucan Mobile, in order to offer quad-play services. The restructuring will allow the company to offer a package of telephone, broadband Internet, television and mobile telephone services.

Toucan Mobile, which Tiscali acquired when it took over the consumer internet and voice arm of Pipex for £210m, currently provides its service over the T-Mobile network. However, Tiscali is reported to have been talking with UK mobile operators about renting space to provide the service.

Toucan Mobile has only around 7,000 customers and its contract with T-Mobile has less than a year to run.

Tiscali is not expected to sell handsets, so mobile customers would have to purchase a phone separately.

The plan will help Tiscali compete against rivals, including Orange and O2, who are believed to be planning to launch TV services in 2008. This would bring Orange into the quad-play market, while O2 would have a triple-play offering.

An increasing number of companies are bundling products together, as the resulting convenience and price efficiencies can help boost their customer base.