Vocus Communications, the Australian fibre network and data centre company, has agreed with Spark New Zealand to form a new construction joint venture, Connect 8.
Under the deal, Spark will acquire half of Connect 8 for an upfront cash payment and an agreed level of annual construction spending while Vocus will also put up an agreed level of annual construction spending. The amounts were not disclosed.
After an initial start-up period, Connect 8 was expected to have an annual committed revenue pipeline of $15 million to $17 million and would continue to build fibre and telecommunications assets for Vocus, Spark New Zealand and other New Zealand clients, said a Vocus statement to the ASX yesterday.
Spark chief operating officer David Havercroft said the joint venture put Spark in an even better position to help New Zealand businesses navigate a future in which fibre would become increasingly important.
"Spark New Zealand already has 8000km of fibre cable in New Zealand. This, paired with the Optical Transmission Network [OTN] - the core data transport network - connects more cities, exchanges and data centres than any other network provider in the country, " he said.
