Yesterday, Rogers Communications Inc. (RCI), the largest Canadian telecom operator, announced acquisitions to strengthen its Business Solutions division. The company has decided to acquire Pivot Data Centres Inc. from private equity firm Sverica International for approximately $150.7 million. Pivot offers data center facilities to business firms through three collocation facilities in Calgary and Edmonton regions.
Rogers also announced the completion of the acquisition of Granite Networks for around $6.1 million. Granite Networks provides managed services and cloud hosting services to private and government enterprises in eastern Ontario and western Quebec. On Apr, 17, 2013, Rogers acquired BLACKIRON Data from Primus Telecommunications Group for about $200 million. The acquisition boosted Rogers’ enterprise-level data centre and cloud computing services as BLACKIRON Data has nearly 4,000 customers.
Rogers is facing severe competitive threat in the core wireless and cable TV market from BCE Inc. (BCE) and Telus Corp. (TU). To counter competition, the company is pursuing expansion in several related fields. Recently, Rogers received an authorization from the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions of Canada to start credit card service. This facility will be launched in Canada in 2014.
On Jan 14, 2013, Rogers entered into an agreement with Shaw Communications Inc. (SJR) to acquire Shaw’s cable system in Hamilton, Ontario and secure an option to purchase Shaw's Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum holdings in 2014 for approximately $700 million. Rogers will sell its one-third interest in specialty channel, TVtropolis, to Shaw and has also entered into negotiations with Shaw for the provision of certain services in Western Canada.
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