Lan 1 buys TR Telecom broadband division

Sydney distributor Lan 1 acquired the broadband distribution division of Melbourne's TR Telecom, bolstering its Melbourne office and wireless portfolio.

TR's broadband division held distribution agreements with Motorola, Rad Data, LightPointe, DragonWave, Ruckus Wireless, Aperto and Icomera.

Lan 1 managing director Daniel Lee said, all the vendors would be retained for 90 days, after which the contracts would be renegotiated.

"We're maintaining relationships with all the vendors because we don't want to cause any disruption to the [TR] reseller community or to the delivery of equipment," Lee said.

Lee said renegotiation after 90 days was necessary to align TR Telecom's assets with a realignment of the Lan 1's own business.

That realignment was expected to be completed "within the next 30 days".

"As much as the vendors need to decide whether to work with us, we must make sure they fit within our overall strategy," Lee said.

The acquisition established Lan 1 as an end-to-end wireless solutions provider, Lee said.

Lan 1 will take 30 percent of TR Telecom's broadband division staff as part of the acquisition, bolstering the distributor's Melbourne-based team to seven.

The other staff would be retained within the TR Group of companies, TR Telecom's general manager Michael Johnson said.

"The fact we could sell to a company experienced in wireless and they could grow TR Telecom's broadband business [was attractive]," Johnson said.

TR Telecom's other business unit, which resells Iridium satellite-based voice and data products, was unaffected by the company's exit from the broadband business.

Johnson said the company would use the proceeds of the sale to bolster the satellite unit with a GPS tracking service and "other high-speed data services outside [of] Iridium".

TR Telecom had commenced negotiations with other suppliers. The expansion would not affect its Iridium contracts, Johnson said.