Vocus

Synopsis

Vocus is an Australian based telecommunications provider with offices in Australia and New Zealand. Its services include co-location, internet, voice, fibre and ethernet services. Vocus merged with M2 Communications and acquired Amcom. Vocus also acquired Nextgen Networks and its 17,000km fibre network linking major cities and regional centres.

The Vocus / Merger with M2 creates Australia's fourth-largest telecommunications company and the third-largest in New Zealand. Vocus’ acquisition of Nextgen Networks will seriously lift its position as an infrastructure based telco. The acquisition is the next and perhaps final part of the company’s strategic plan that has also seen his firm expand geographically with the previous acquisition of Amcom and FX Networks, and diversify into the consumer space via its merger with M2.

While the TPG/iiNet merger brought two similar companies together, and as such potentially reduced the number of players in the market, the Vocus/M2 combination brings two different companies together – one operating in the business market and one operating in the retail market. This will allow the companies to share resources and attract better deals from the various ICT (wholesale) providers they do business with.

In January 2018 Vocus announced a restructuring under which it is splitting its existing Enterprise & Wholesale segment into two operating segments.

However during 2017 and into 2018 Vocus has been struggling. Intense competition has created a challenging business environment and migration activity to the NBN has added additional costs to the business.

Companies covered in this report include:

Vocus, M2, Nextgen Network, Amcom