Xplornet Communications Inc. announced it has closed an agreement to acquire Brant Fibre Optics, a network operator providing gigabit-speed Internet services to enterprise customers in Brant County in southwestern Ontario, on Tuesday, December 7.
“The acquisition of Brant Fibre Optics is an important milestone in our continued focus on increasing our fibre footprint across Ontario to provide our customers with faster speeds and increased bandwidth,” said Bill Macdonald, executive vice-president at Xplornet Communications, in a press release.
“Xplornet’s enterprise customers will also benefit from an expanded network that offers reliability and scalability as their business connectivity needs change,” Macdonald said.
As Brooke Hayward, CEO of Brant Municipal Enterprises (BME), a wholly owned corporation of the County of Brant, explains in the press release, BME “grew the Brant Fibre Optic network over the past eight years to provide high-speed telecommunication services in previously underserved areas throughout the County.”
“BME saw this as an opportune time to sell the fibre network to an organization positioned to expand the existing fibre optic backbone directly to more homes and businesses throughout Brant County,” Hayward said. “Proceeds from the sale will provide BME with funding to invest in local initiatives that fill critical infrastructure gaps such as healthcare and affordable housing. A win, win, win for Xplornet, BME and the community alike.”
The acquisition helps to support “Xplornet’s ongoing investments to bring fast and reliable fibre-to-the-premise Internet service to households, commercial operations and institutions across rural Ontario,” the press release says.
As part of an agreement with Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology (SWIFT), Xplornet is deploying fibre to serve more than 8,000 customers in Brant, Grey, Bruce and Middlesex counties in Ontario.
Xplornet also recently announced it is rolling out fibre-to-the-home Internet to 200,000 homes and businesses in rural communities across Ontario.
In addition, “gigabit speeds are already available in Haldimand County and work continues to expand the service to 19,000 rural homes, businesses, schools and seasonal residences over the next two years,” the release says.
“These projects are part of the company’s commitment to invest $500 million by the end of 2025 to deploy state-of-the-art scalable fibre and 5G fixed wireless technologies to meet the needs of rural Canadians and businesses and connect them to what matters most to them.”
