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SingTel Optus to buy WiMax operator
20 February 2012
Australia’s Seven Group to sell Vividwireless broadband unit for $246m to Singapore Telecom
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Australia
SingTel
Optus
Seven
WiMax
LTE
4G
Singapore Telecommunications’ Australian unit Optus will acquire WiMax operator Vividwireless from Seven Group Holdings, reported the Herald Sun. The $246 million deal will include the operating business, customer base, spectrum licence and 4G network of Vividwireless. Optus said internal sources and debt would be used to fund the acquisition.
The deal is subject to several conditions including approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Foreign Investment Review Board, and Vividwireless’s 2.3 gigahertz spectrum licence renewal.
Paul O’Sullivan, CEO of Optus, said: “The acquisition of Vividwireless will give Optus a significant increase in network capacity to address the next wave of data growth that is just around the corner.”
Optus plans to launch LTE in the Newcastle and Hunter areas of New South Wales in April 2012. O’Sullivan said: “By integrating [Vividwireless] with our current 4G rollout (in the 1800 megahertz band), we will be able to provide increased mobile speeds to our customers in metropolitan Australia.” GTB
Further reading from Global Telecoms Business:
SingTel signs financing deal with 12 banks 01 Jul 2011
Optus and IPstar win $300m NBN contract 06 May 2011
Upgrading to LTE will be cheaper than 3G 10 Dec 2010
Vividwireless to test WiMax to LTE switch 29 Nov 2010