KPN has reached an agreement to sell its international network to GTT Communications for a fixed fee of €50 million.
The transaction includes the sale of international fibre assets and network points of presence (POPs) in 21 countries.
The deal is in line with KPN’s simplification strategy. Between 2019 and 2021, the Dutch operator is looking to save around €350million in operating expenditure through simplification, automation and end-to-end digitalisation of IT platforms and systems.
KPN plans to use proceeds of the transaction “to increase operational and financial flexibility”.
Cloud push
GTT says the acquisition complements its portfolio of cloud networking services with similar transport and infrastructure, internet, and wide area networking (WAN) services.
Rick Calder, GTT president and CEO, said, “The acquisition of KPN International deepens our market presence in the European region.
“The world-class resources contributed from this acquisition, including a highly experienced team, international network assets and a deep roster of multinational clients, will help us deliver on our purpose of connecting people across organisations around the world and to every application in the cloud.”
As part of the transaction, KPN will enter into a master services agreement with GTT to ensure continuity of international network services to its customers.
The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of 2019, subject to regulatory approvals.