RootMetrics was owned by UK-based IHS Markit, but neither it nor Ookla have named a price.
Ookla CEO and co-founder Doug Suttles said: “Ookla plus RootMetrics fully enables the network assessment trifecta of crowd measurement, controlled testing and consumer perception – with a sustainable business model that should thrive through the privacy revolution.”
The companies said that together they will combine the first-party crowdsourced data from Speedtest with drive and walk testing data from RootMetrics.
IHS Markit, which is headquartered in London and listed on the New York Stock Exchange, is part-way through a planned US$44 billion merger with S&P Global, previously better known as Standard & Poor’s.
In October S&P Global and IHS Markit announced they had received conditional approval from the European Commission, and a decision from the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) that the merger did not raise potential competition concerns, except in relation to certain commodity and petrochemical price assessments in the UK.
Ookla said that, as a result of its acquisition of Rootmetrics, mobile operators, network infrastructure providers and governments will be able to use “their respective network performance analytics, software products, testing capabilities and data science methodologies to better understand, market, deploy and optimise their networks”.
This is Ookla’s second acquisition in recent months. In July 2021 the company said it had bought Colorado-based Solutelia and its WINd software suite. “Together we will disrupt and forever change the wireless network test and measurement industry,” said Ookla then.
RootMetrics CEO Kevin Hasley said of this month’s deal: “Becoming part of Ookla completes the vision that Doug and I shared when we first met years ago.”
He added: “With our combined experience and expertise we can better help our customers overcome challenges, optimise their networks and create opportunities. I am very excited to see our joint future unfold.”
