Digiweb claims the acquisition will create a pan-European telecoms provider, with extended operations across the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy.
The company offers multi-site MPLS data networks, IP and traditional voice services, in addition to cloud computing and data centre services to enterprise and wholesale customers.
It struck the deal to acquire London-based Viatel yesterday, and it will add the company’s extensive fibre connectivity, high-speed bandwidth and managed services to blue chip carrier, corporate and government clients across Europe.
Viatel invested $1.5 billion in constructing its low latency carrier fibre network, connecting 21 cities across 8600km of network throughout western Europe.
“We see a strong opportunity for cross border consolidation in the telecoms sector in Europe in parallel with the explosion in high bandwidth connectivity demand, and this transaction is the first step in positioning our group to take advantages of those trends,” said Colm Piercy, group CEO at Digiweb.
“Digiweb has always had a philosophy of challenging the status quo and we plan on stepping that up following this marriage of Digiweb’s entrepreneurial culture with Viatel’s service and network excellence.”
Investors in Viatel, which include Morgan Stanley, are now putting additional equity into the Digiweb group. As part of the acquisition, the company will now fund the introduction of new services. It said it will continue to seek further opportunities for consolidation in the market to deliver differentiated, exceptional service offerings leveraging wholly-owned independent infrastructure.
Outgoing CEO at Viatel will now join the board of directors at Digiweb. “This is an exciting time for Viatel and its clients and this combination of products, skills and expertise gives the business great opportunities to expand and to create shareholder value,” she added.
