Telstra has completed the $697 million acquisition of Pacnet in a deal that has doubled the operator's customer base in Asia.
Australia-based Telstra now plans to integrate Pacnet into Telstra and progressively retire the Pacnet brand.
The company revealed it will continue the development of Pacnet Business Solutions, a joint venture in China which recently secured licenses to offer IP-VPN services and data center network services in the market.
Pacnet's US assets will meanwhile be integrated into Telstra's operations once regulatory approval is received.
“The addition of Pacnet’s staff, infrastructure, technology and expertise will position Telstra as a leading provider of services to multinational and large companies in Asia,” commented Telstra group executive for global enterprise and services Brendon Riley.
“The completed acquisition will double Telstra’s customers in Asia, and greatly increase our network reach and data center capabilities across the region. This includes the addition of the largest privately owned intra-Asia cable network, 29 data centers and the ability to further grow our China operations through the existing joint venture.”
As part of the acquisition, Telstra has revealed plans to refinance Pacnet's outstanding debt, by repaying the company's bank debt and redeeming all the company's $350 million high-yield notes.
Telstra first revealed plans to acquire Pacnet in December. Hong Kong and Singapore based Pacnet operates 109 PoPs across 61 cities in APAC, and 8 in the US and Europe. The company also controls two fiber pairs on the Unity trans-Pacific subsea cable network.
Telstra has separately revealed plans to more than double the number of hotspots in operation for its trial nationwide Wi-Fi network in its home market of Australia.
More than 1,500 new hotspots will be added to the 1,100 in operation. The trial forms part of Telstra's A$100 million ($78 million) project to deploy one of the world's largest Wi-Fi networks, consisting mostly of hotspots provided by the operator's broadband customers in exchange for use of the network.