GTT Strikes Again in Europe, to Buy KPN International

The time was certainly ripe for another significant infrastructure acquisition by GTT, as it had been over a year since the Interoute deal closed. This morning the company announced its next inorganic project: the purchase of KPN International, a division of the Netherlands-based telecommunications incumbent.

KPN International operates a global IP network with a selection of European fiber assets aimed at the wholesale and enterprise markets. The deal will will add some 400 customers to GTT’s lists, and will also gain access to KPN’s other customers with needs outside of the Netherlands. On the fiber side, the deal comes with some additional longhaul routes as well as metro rings in the four key hubs of Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, and Paris. More revenue and customers to put on the company’s global network is the main idea of course, but GTT also brings on board some more industry talent of course.

The deal will cost GTT just €50M, showing how little investment GTT has put into its international footprint in recent years. Of course, it was 8 years ago that KPN last sold off a good chunk of its pan-European assets to Interoute, this is just the final bit they kept to serve the multinational enterprise market I guess. Last autumn the company also sold its iBasis international wholesale voice division to Tofane Global.

The deal is expected to close later this quarter, assuming no regulatory speed bumps.

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Categories: Fiber Networks · Internet Backbones · Mergers and Acquisitions