Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Trans-Tasman consolidation as Vibe buys RackCentral
New Zealand's telecommunications industry consolidation continues as Vibe Communications acquires RackCentral, a troubled Australian cloud service provider.
The move gives Vibe control of the RackCentral and CloudiO brands along with the company's more than 1500 customers.
Vibe says it has been looking for an Australian acquisition for some time.
Telecommunications is an eat-or-be-eaten world. Companies on both sides of the Tasman have been busy snapping up smaller players.
The economics of falling overall industry revenues, intense competition have lead to downward price pressures.
Those with access to capital can strengthen their position by broadening their portfolios and deepening their customer pools.
In the last year 2degrees acquired Snap, Vodafone bought WorldXchange and in another trans-Tasman deal Vocus took-over FX Networks.
RackCentral ran into trouble last year filing for liquidation when faced with disputed debt claims from Vocus and the Summit Group.
The two companies have little overlap. Vibe's main business is in IP transit, International Layer 2 Access and VoIP. It also has a wholesale business. RackCentral sells colocation, virtual private servers (VPS), self-managed cloud hosting and physical server hosting.
Rudi Hefer, CEO of Vibe Communications, says RackCentral is a logical extension to his business.
He says the Australian company
has a similar philosophy around instantaneous provisioning
and service self-management. The deal will "...allow
customers to create end-to-end network services, including
connectivity and infrastructure on-demand, in real-time and
on terms that suit them. This is something that no provider
in ANZ is
doing.”
Bill Bennett
New Zealand technology news
Bill Bennett publishes technology news and features that are directly relevant to New Zealand readers.
Covering enterprise and small business computing, start-ups, listed companies, the technology channel and devices. Bennett's main focus is on New Zealand innovation.
Bill Bennett stories are republished on Geekzone and Scoop.
Stories published on this site are available to publishers for a fixed fee or a monthly subscription.
Binoy Kampmark: Censorship Wars, Elon Musk, Safety Commissioners And Violent Content
Gordon Campbell: On The Public Sector Carnage, And Misogyny As Terrorism
Ramzy Baroud: NATO’s Never-ending War: The 75-Year-Old Bully Is Faltering
Eugene Doyle: Joining AUKUS Not In NZ’s National Interest
Binoy Kampmark: The Australian Defence Formula, Spend! Spend! Spend!
Ian Powell: New Hospital Building Trumps ‘Yes Minister’ Hospital Without Patients