Netspace turns to content for growth

Netspace has turned to content provisioning rather than the roll-out of high-speed broadband as the preferred source of growth for the company.

Netspace has turned to content provisioning rather than the roll-out of high-speed broadband as the preferred source of growth for the company.

The national ISP has acquired online DVD rental company Webflicks, which it expects will boost the company’s bottom line and grow its offering of value added services.

Webflicks, founded in 2002, offers monthly subscription allowing customers to access DVD titles which are then mailed to the customer via Australia Post to be returned at the end of the month.

The company, which has three thousand customers across the country, will now operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Netspace. All Webflicks’ staff are expected to be retained.

While the acquisition would present both companies with a range of cross-selling opportunities, Netspace managing director Stuart Marburg said the buy was more about achieving a balanced view of growth.

“Higher speeds are very important, but we believe this should not be our sole focus when less than eighty percent of the market is on 1.5Mbps at the moment,” he said in a statement.

“For this reason we see content initiatives, such as Webflicks, as providing a genuine opportunity for us to add real value to the customer and in the longer term drive the demand for higher broadband speeds, at which point we will be poised to deliver this type of content online.”