Optus acquires Reef

Major telco Optus has paid $93 million for Reef Networks, the owner of fibre optic cable that stretches between Brisbane and Cairns in Queensland.

The acquisition would provide Optus with exclusive use of the telecommunications transmission capacity and save it more than $120 million in lease payments over the next six years, Optus said in a statement.

It also guaranteed Optus had infrastructure to service the growing demand for telecommunications services in regional Queensland, Optus said.

“When it was formed in 1999, Reef created an opportunity for us to provide government, business and consumers with increased access to high speed data services, voice and e-commerce applications at competitive prices and this is now guaranteed to continue,” Bill Hope, managing director at Optus Networks, said in a statement.

The acquisition follow Optus’ recently announced SmartNet initiative where Optus installed fibre optic networks in Cairns, Townsville and Rockhampton and expanded the network to deliver broadband to more than 30 regional Queensland towns.

Optus have exclusive use of the network capacity until 2011. Reef had property, plant and equipment worth $54 million and net deficiency of equity of $6 million.