Indian firm buys British network operator
Operators getting busy.
By John Ribeiro, IDG News Service | Published: 15:24, 26 May 2008
Indian telecoms company Reliance Communications has bought Vanco, a British managed network services provider. It made the acquisition through its subsidiary Reliance Globalcom, which also runs and operates the Flag undersea cable system.
The acquisition of Vanco, for $77m (£38m) will add annual revenue of $365 million to Reliance Globalcom, the company said on Monday. Vanco, a virtual network operator, offers its services in 40,000 locations across 63 countries, though 90 percent of its revenue comes from the US, UK, Germany, and France.
The deal is one of a number of moves by Indian telecommunications companies to acquire companies abroad, both to expand their presence beyond India and to offer more services to their customers in India and abroad.
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Reliance Communications announced earlier on Monday that it had entered into negotiations with the MTN Group in South Africa to combine their businesses. Another Indian company, Bharti Airtel, announced on Saturday that it had called off talks with MTN for a merger between the two companies.
Last year, Reliance Globalcom acquired Yipes Holdings, an Ethernet service provider in the U.S., for $300 million.
