Australia’s Vocus Communications has just completed the acquisition of NextGen‘s network assets. (Vocus and NextGen – Better Together). The deal is worth AU$861mn (according to ZDNet, Vocus completes AU$861m acquisition of Nextgen Networks)
This expands Vocus’s coverage to 21,000km of fiber covering the state capitals and linking 5,000 on-net buildings and 19 data centres. The former NextGen owners, the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan (OTPP) and CIMIC, retain the MetroNode hosting centres not included in the deal.
The deal announced by Vocus in July (Closing the Loop – NextGen Networks) and approved by the ACCC (the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) in September (ACCC will not oppose Vocus Communications’ move on Nextgen).
Vocus and NextGen were already partners in the new subsea cable from Perth to Singapore (Australia-Singapore Cable or ASC). Vocus’s press-release (Vocus and NextGen partner to invest in subsea cable) estimates a timeframe of 18 months to deliver this. The merger brings into Vocus the team that laid the North West Cable System (NWCS), completed in September. (NextGen Group completes Australia’s First Purpose-Built Subsea Fibre Optic Cable Connecting Darwin to Port Hedland), growing Vocus’ subsea cable expertise.