Tofane Global plans to acquire NOS International Carrier Services, a subsidiary of the Portugal-based operator NOS, as part of its M&A and consolidation strategy.
It follows the September 2018 acquisition of Altice Europe’s wholesale voice carrier subsidiaries in France, Portugal and the Dominican Republic, and the February 2019 acquisition of iBASIS from KPN.
Tofane Global was set up in 2017 by Alexandre Pébereau, who left his job as CEO of Orange International Carrier in 2016, after seven years in that role. Tofane is named after a range of mountains in the Dolomites in northern Italy.
NOS International Carrier Services, which recorded revenue of €141 million in 2019, will be consolidated under the iBASIS brand.
The deal strengthens iBASIS’ footprint in Portuguese-speaking markets, including Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, East Timor, Macau, Sao Tome and Principe. iBASIS will service NOS’ 80 wholesale customers, adding over 2 billion minutes annually to its international voice traffic.
“Path for growth”
Alexandre Pébereau, Group CEO and founder of Tofane, said, “Within 12 months, we completed the acquisitions and integration of two leaders, Altice Europe N.V. international voice carrier business and iBASIS, to become [a] top three and [the] first independent global carrier.
“This latest transaction confirms the attractiveness of our business model and expertise in reliable migrations enabling the operators to focus quickly on their core operations.”
Following the acquisition, mobile services, they will represent a third of Tofane’s total activity, he added.
Manuel Ramalho Eanes, NOS Executive Board Member, said for NOS, the transaction is “a path for growth”.
“We were seeking the right way to capitalise on our core business while optimising our wholesale services. Tofane provides us with the solution we needed for more efficient and economical voice and mobile international operations,” he explained.
He said the deal would enable NOS to extract the highest value from Tier 1 access and economy of scale, while maintaining independence.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals.