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Connectivity and broadband infrastructure provider Superloop (ASX: SLC) has purchased the fibre broadband customer base operated on the nbn network by internet service provider, SkyMesh.
SkyMesh is the Australian subsidiary of Bigblu Broadband and the $1.5 million deal will add over 10,000 broadband subscribers to Superbb, the newly formed retail broadband division of Superloop, which is one of Business News Australia's Top 50 Brisbane Companies.
"This is an attractive acquisition, kickstarting our position in the retail nbn marketplace and complimenting our NuSkope acquisition late last year," says Superloop founder and CEO Bevan Slattery (pictured).
Slattery says the acquisition aligns with Superbb's plans to aggressively disrupt the Australian ISP landscape, now dominated by the "big four'", backed by Australian-based staff.
Slattery will soon move into a new role as executive director to drive strategic expansion and partnerships for Superloop and Drew Kelton will take over as CEO on July 1.
"We will be bringing a business class experience to the residential customer, something that is missing in the market right now," Skelton says.
Superbb will migrate the customer base onto its new platform, which is expected to be live in October this year.
This coincides with Superloop rolling out a national backbone connecting all of the nbn's 121 Points of Interconnect at either 10 or 100 gigabits per second, excluding Hobart and Launceston.
Superloop provides end-to-end voice, data, cloud and managed IT services using its own wireless and fibre-optic networks within Australia and is currently building similar systems in Singapore and Hong Kong.
Slattery says Superloop's vision is to be the most trusted enabler of connectivity and managed services in Asia Pacific.
It owns and operates more than 640 kilometres of carrier-grade metropolitan fibre networks in Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong, connecting more than 275 of the region's key data centres and commercial buildings.
In February, Superloop reported a 533 per cent increase in revenue for the first half of FY18, driven by some key acquisitions.
Superloop's revenue was up to $55.5 million in the first half of FY18, up from $8.8 million at the same time last year. Profit after direct costs for the half was $30.8 million, up from $3.1 million at 1H17, and earnings reached $11.8 million.
The company's significant acquisitions included NuSkope in October 2017 and GX2 Holdings in November.
At around midday, SLC shares were trading up by four per cent to $2.42.
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Business News Australia
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