Six Degrees Group snaps up Telstra's UK mid-market base

UK comms buy-and-build player kicks on as Antipodean giant decides to focus on big enterprise, ChannelWeb learns

Buy-and-build comms player Six Degrees Group (6DG) has snapped up the UK voice, data and hosting mid-market customer base of telecoms giant Telstra, ChannelWeb has learned.

In a statement, Telstra International confirmed that it has sold the client base to the London comms and services outfit to allow it to focus more sharply on enterprise customers with a presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

"Telstra International has made the strategic decision to form an agreement with Six Degrees Group, a leading provider of managed voice and data services, which will see its voice and related mid-market customer base in the UK transferred from Telstra to Six Degrees Group," said the statement.

"The reason for the transfer is to enable Telstra to focus on its core strategy of providing multi-national customers with international data and hosting services, combined with Asia-Pacific connectivity requirements."

The customer base acquired by 6DG primarily sits in the financial services, hospitality, leisure and entertainment markets. The acquisitive UK firm, which set up shop six months ago, will also take on related services, sales and commercial management staff from the Aussie telco giant.

Campbell Williams, sales and marketing director at 6DG, confirmed to ChannelWeb that the deal has been inked, and indicated that new employees will be added to service the customer base. He explained that his firm will be unveiling an in-house SIP trunking product sometime in the next three months.

The offering will be built on 6DG's carrier-grade softswitching capability and will be available through the company's datacentres in London and Birmingham, added Williams. He also claimed that his firm's "voice and IT reseller channels have been clamouring for us to have an in-house SIP trunking product".

"For channels looking for a strong converged portfolio offering that encompasses voice, data and hosting, 6DG now has the same asset capabilities as tier-one operators and we are looking to develop a small number of highly capable ICT integrators that need a partner with these services," said Williams.

6DG, which is headed by former SpiriTel boss Alastair Mills, was formed through the merger of three firms and hit the market last year, backed by a £60m investment from Penta Capital. Helped by today's acquisition, the firm now has a revenue run-rate of about £40m.

More acquisitions are planned for the coming months, focusing on its stated mid-market sweet spot of customers spending about £50,000 a year. The City-based firm is reportedly also considering further investment in its London datacentre footprint.