Cogent Acquires LambdaNet Spain & LambdaNet France
6 January 2004
Cogent Communications Group, Inc. (AMEX:COI), a Tier One, optical Internet service provider, announced today that it has acquired the operating entities of LambdaNet Communications France S.A.S. and LambdaNet Espana S.A. LambdaNet is the current tradename for what was previously Firstmark Communications, a large pan-European carrier's carrier offering point-to-point and Internet connectivity solutions to businesses.
Immediately preceding Cogent's acquisition, LambdaNet Spain and LambdaNet France both received new equity investments from a group of private equity investors based in Europe and the United States. These investors will become shareholders of the combined company.
Cogent will continue to support LambdaNet's product suite including point- to-point transport and transit services in over 40 markets and almost 30 Cogent-owned data centers across Europe. But, Cogent will quickly introduce in Europe a new set of radically priced products and services based on Cogent's current North American product set.
"Cogent plans to create one of the largest pan-European operations in existence and intends to offer some of the highest quality transit services available in the world to carrier customers and retail end-users throughout Europe," said Dave Schaeffer, CEO Cogent Communications.
"It is our belief that the combination of Cogent's high quality bandwidth and radically low pricing cannot be duplicated by any other provider operating in Europe today," added Helen Lee, Cogent's Chief Financial Officer.
As a result of the acquisition, Cogent's North American network now extends across the Atlantic to France, Spain, United Kingdom, Belgium, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland.
About Cogent CommunicationsCogent Communications (AMEX:COI) is a Tier 1, facilities based, all- optical ISP focused on delivering ultra-high speed Internet access and transport services to businesses in the multi-tenant marketplace as well as to service providers located in major metropolitan areas across the United States and Canada.
