Today Pacnet became the latest customer of Infinera, selecting their DTN for upgrades to their land network in preparation for their part of the Unity cable (called EAC Pacific) when it comes online. Not too many have been watching, but Pacnet has been making lots of moves this summer. Pacnet who, you say? Well, this is the newest incarnation of the assets we once called Asia Global Crossing plus some other bits and pieces. Now in the hands of private equity, the company seems increasingly aggressive. Since May they have:
- set up a joint venture in China with Zhong Ren Telecom, planning to offer IPVPN on the mainland, amongst other things
- allied with Telstra in Australia, offering ADSL2+ on Telstra’s network
- added 4 new PoPs in the USA
- made a deal with Bharti Airtel for access to India
In the early days after the takeover by private equity, the story out of Pacnet was one of cost cutting and chaos and there was some thought that it might be quickly flipped. But it seems the new owners have bigger plans and are providing the funding to make it happen. Should be interesting to watch, although I think the company remains a takeover candidate eventually – assuming the credit markets ever get back to normal.
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Categories: Mergers and Acquisitions · Telecom Equipment · Undersea cables
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India, China and Telstra were in the works with Pacific Internet … no great genius at PacNet did much there. In fact the people behind these moves have all left the company.
As to chaos … does 100% turnover in management sound like a stable company ??
The place is in leadership paralysis and the economy is the only thing keeping the doors bolted shut to further exits.