News
Japanese operator to pay 80 billion to bolster fixed broadband business.
KDDI on Thursday struck an ¥80 billion (€654.2 million) deal to acquire ISP Biglobe from Japan Industrial Partners (JIP).
The Japanese operator, which offers mobile services under the Au brand, said in a statement that it plans to buy its shares in Biglobe at around the end of January and make it a wholly-owned subsidiary of KDDI.
The deal is in line with KDDI’s strategy of diversifying its revenue stream.
"With this conversion into a subsidiary, KDDI and Biglobe will utilise their respective customer bases, business expertise, and so forth to expand business through synergies between the two companies, not only in the telecommunications domain, but also in the non-telecommunications domains, such as settlement services and product sales businesses," KDDI said.
Biglobe had more than 2 million fixed broadband customers, and 400,000 MVNO customers at the end of September. Spun off from kit maker NEC in 2006, the company generated operating revenues of ¥77.6 billion in the fiscal year ended 31 March.
This is according to a Nikkei report on Tuesday, which claimed that the two parties have reached an agreement in principle, and will make an official announcement in the near future.
News of Thursday’s deal was first reported by Nikkei earlier this week.
According to the report, KDDI is in the final stages of negotiating the acquisition of another fixed-line ISP, Nifty, from its parent Fujitsu.
