Toronto-based TeraGo Networks Inc., one of North America’s largest fixed-wireless broadband companies, announced it has acquired WorldWithoutWire, a high-speed wireless broadband company, to help it reach previously untapped cities.
With the acquisition, TeraGo now gains entry into seven cities in Ontario that include Hamilton, Burlington, and Kitchener-Waterloo. Bryan Boyd, president and CEO of TeraGo, said this acquisition allowed it to expand into those areas much faster than it might have on its own.
“To do the kind of roll out that we do, it takes some sophistication and time. You can only do so many cities at the same time. We could take two to three years and spend a certain amount of capital [to expand to those cities ourselves] or spend the money up front and get to where we would be a whole lot quicker.”
TeraGo focuses on medium-size businesses in suburban areas of major cities and smaller cities in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario. It provides its clients the ability to connect their business locations together in the same city as well as connect them to the Internet.
Customers of the Waterloo, Ont.-based WorldWithoutWire will benefit from this partnership through TeraGo’s strong financial resources, Boyd said. As well, by entering these new markets, there is definite opportunity for TeraGo to gain new customers. For TeraGo’s existing customers, the deal provides them services in additional cities that were not available to them in the past, he added.
Now that the acquisition is complete, the next step for TeraGo is to audit WorldWithoutWire’s network and determine the best way to connect it into TeraGo’s in order to create one national network.
“It is a delicate operation. You got 500-plus customers [and] you want to be very careful to implement change such that it is not disruptive and only improves the service that they have,” Boyd said.
As for the future, Boyd said TeraGo is in expansion mode, having already expanded in Edmonton last month, and is launching in Montreal early next year.
Since first launching its services in Calgary in 2000, TeraGo has seen a 50 per cent revenue growth year after year that has allowed it to expand to 16 cities across four provinces in just four years.