New Zealand telco Spark (formerly Telecom New Zealand) is acquiring business services provider Digital Island to strengthen its SME offering. Digital Island will continue to operate under its own name, as part of Spark’s Ventures and Wholesale division. Spark did not reveal the financial details of the deal.
Talking about the acquisition, Spark’s ED Hyde, CEO of Spark Ventures and Wholesale, said: “Digital Island has built a respected brand in the business communications market and has a great Cloud PABX offering for NZ businesses.”
Spark’s Ventures and Wholesale division had revenues of NZ$223 million in 2017, with EBITDA at 51.1%. This was NZ$24 million in revenues less than in FY2016.
It expanded its portfolio in FY2017 through investment in Mycare and homes.co.nz, as well as by acquiring Clarity and Ubiquity. The company said continuing growth in wholesale national backhaul and carrier ethernet data services contributed to a reduction in its cost per gigabyte in FY2017. 2017 also saw the commercial launch of the company’s Tasman Global Access (TGA) cable, which is delivering additional international bandwidth and capacity, as well as strengthening diversity and resiliency between New Zealand and Australia.
