Tech and AI

TalkTalk Business and ARO plan merger, subject to security approval

By Staff Writer  |  15 August 2026

TalkTalk Business and ARO say their proposed merger would create a managed technology group with about 650 employees, annual revenue of about GBP 200 million and more than 70,000 customers. The transaction remains subject to approval under the National Security and Investment Act.

TalkTalk Business and ARO announced on 14 August that they intend to merge. The proposed group would combine connectivity, cloud, cyber security and managed IT services. The parties say it would have about 650 employees, annual revenue of about GBP 200 million and a customer base of more than 70,000 organisations.

The deal is not complete. It remains subject to the UK's statutory investment-security process. The parties expect completion by the end of summer. Until then, TalkTalk Business and ARO remain separate businesses.

This is a defining moment for both ARO and TalkTalk Business.

Ciaran Rafferty, CEO at ARO

What the combined group would sell

The proposed group would bring together two related but different customer bases. TalkTalk Business has a larger base of smaller business customers. ARO's business is directed more towards enterprise customers and includes cloud, cyber security and data centre services. The companies describe their operations as complementary.

That distinction explains the transaction. A connectivity provider can sell network capacity, voice and mobile services. A managed technology provider can add cloud management, cyber security and support. The combined group would seek to supply both to the same customers rather than pass them to another provider.

For customers, the immediate question is not whether the merger creates a new brand. It is whether one supplier can take responsibility for both the connection and the systems that depend on it.

What changes first

The parties say both businesses would initially keep their existing brands and offices while integration plans are developed. They have not announced the name of the combined business or who would lead it after completion.

Those details matter because the group is being presented as a single technology partner, while the operating model will initially remain split. Customers will need to see which contracts, support arrangements and account teams move, and when. The announcement does not set out a timetable for those operational decisions.

Ruth Kennedy, CEO of TalkTalk Business, said the merger was a step in the company's move towards managed services. Her account of the deal places the emphasis on combining technical capability with service delivery, rather than on a change to the consumer TalkTalk business.

Why the approval condition matters

The transaction is subject to the UK's investment-security process. One report says this is because ARO supplies some government customers. Approval is therefore a condition of completion, not a routine announcement after the fact.

For now, the figures are the parties' stated scale for a planned combined group. The more useful test will come after approval: whether the business can combine its services without disrupting the customers who still buy from the two companies separately.