iiNet Netspace acquisition now Finalised - Updated 03.05.2010 by Ronnie
iiNet have now officially completed a $40 million transaction of Netspace thanks to an advanced 3 year extension on a $100 million cash injection supplied by the Westpac Bank. The purchase of Netspace has now given the West Australian Telcommunication Provider a much stronger footprint on the East Coast of Australia, not too mention further concreting their position as Australia’s 3rd largest Internet Service Provider.
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iiNet share trading at the Australian Stock Exchange has been suspended among news that the Perth based ISP is in talks with Netspace for a possible $60-$75 million dollar acquisition deal that may catapult the Western Australian Broadband operator back into outright 3rd place as Australia’s largest Internet Service Provider.
 After being knocked off their perch by TPG after they announced their desire to buy Pipe Networks, who recently completed the PPC-1 Sydney to Guam submarine cable, iiNet stated soon thereafter that they had aspiration of acquiring a smaller East Coast ISP. So the Netspace announcement hasn’t really come as any surprise although that the 80,000 extra Internet subscribers they will obtain will still leave them short by some 400,000 of where iiNet CEO Michale Malone wants to be by the commencement of the National Broadband Network project.
Netspace appeared to be a very strategic and likely acquisition for iiNet due to their location, size and infrastructure assets. Only last year did Netspace update their Network by installing 10 additional DSLAM units for further ADSL2+ capacity. Starting shop back in the early 1990′s with dial-up Internet access, Netspace is one of the oldest Australian based ISPs still up and running, and similar to the likes of Internode and iiNet, they’re one of the more successful smaller Australian ISPs as well.
Search and Compare iiNet and Netspace Broadband Plans right here.
