Dunstone interview

The Financial Times today includes a wide-ranging interview with Carphone Warehouse head honcho Charles Dunstone in three parts [1|2|3] in which he talks of their plans for a TV service (expanding the TV service of recently acquired Tiscali), how de-merging their telco and retail businesses will drive value to both and of the integration challenge of Tiscali.

He talks of how he will integrate the Tiscali and TalkTalk ISPs, particularly given the challenges brought about by the under-investment in Tiscali's network over previous years which has led them to shed customers hand over fist. Dunstone adds that he is "very" confident that they will deliver the integration savings expected by bringing the ISPs together, something he has learnt about in the past from their purchase of AOL UK.

Dunstone says that he wants TalkTalk to remain independent and has no intention to hawk off their telco division once it's de-merged from the retail business, but did say:

"Obviously I don't want to create the impression I'm some kind of megalomaniac that's going to hang on to this business irrespective of what happens. I have to be respectful of our other shareholders."