Viatel promises €125 million expansion

European telecommunications service provider Viatel, part of the Digiweb Group, says it has €125 million that it plans to spend over the next 12 months to extend its fiber-optic network infrastructure, cloud services capabilities, and data centers. At least part of this expansion will come via acquisitions, backed by funding partner Proventus Capital Partners.

Viatel offers connectivity and ICT services to larger enterprise, public sector, wholesale, and carrier customers throughout Europe. It operates metro fiber networks and data centers in Dublin, London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Paris, Rotterdam, Brussels, Zurich, Lyons, Bordeaux, and Marseilles. Overall, Viatel owns over 8,500 km of duct and fiber-optic network infrastructure connecting 8 countries, 35 primary cities, 150 data centers, and thousands of mid-and large-sized enterprises.

The company is now poised for further expansion.

"This is an exciting time for Viatel," says Viatel CEO Colm Piercy. "While we already connect 150 data centers and thousands of multinational enterprises and organizations across Western Europe, this investment will now enable us to enhance our services and to extend our reach further and deeper within Europe and to connect new locations in the USA, Canada, the Middle East, and Asia."

Viatel sees itself as well positioned to be a consolidating force in what it describes as "the inevitable consolidation of fragmented providers." Several potential acquisitions are already being negotiated, the company reveals, that will solidify Viatel's position as a unified services and infrastructure competitor. The result will be better pricing and improved services to customers, Viatel asserts.

The company's funding partner is equally bullish. "Proventus Capital Partners is committed to working with dynamic and growth-oriented businesses throughout Europe. In Viatel, we have found an exciting mix of opportunity and capability and we look forward to working closely with management to develop the company's true potential," according to Henrik Bjerklin, investment director with Proventus Capital Partners.

"On foot of this investment, we are now expanding our sales, technical, and product development and delivery teams in London, Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt. Our new partnership with Proventus will enable Viatel to greatly accelerate our growth and to transform the European telecommunications sector into the future," Piercy concluded.

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