Tiscali UK has bought the consumer telephony business of UK energy supplier, npower, for a price somewhere between £6 million and £7 million.

Tiscali will gain access to around 200,000 npower customers and forecasts the new accounts could help generate more than £25 million a year for Tiscali.

Smart Talk provides discounted national and international calls to fixed and mobile numbers. It works with a customer's existing BT line and number, with calls automatically transferred through Tiscali's network without the need for prefixes or dialler boxes.

Tiscali's Simply Dial product provides discounts on international calls without punters needing to register or provide payment details.

Npower is one of the UK’s largest energy and utility suppliers. It is moving out of telecoms to focus on its core products of gas, electricity and related services, the company said in a statement. ®