Birch Communications expands network footprint with Primus Telecommunications acquisition

Communications services provider Birch Communications, Inc. says it has agreed to purchase select assets and customers of Primus Telecommunications Canada Inc. Birch did not disclose how much it would pay for the assets, but said it hopes to close the deal in the second quarter of this year.

The Primus acquisition will add more than 250,000 business and consumer customers to Birch's service footprint. These customers include 20,000 customers in the United States and Puerto Rico. Birch says the Primus service portfolio complements its own; each offers broadband Internet, cloud-hosted PBX, dedicated data access, local phone, long distance, and wholesale services (see, for example, "Birch Communications adds 14 states to broadband service area").

"This transaction demonstrates our continued commitment to grow our service territory, product-set, and customer base," said Vincent Oddo, president and CEO at Birch. "Primus customers will benefit from being part of a larger service provider with a strong commitment to award-winning customer care, and Birch customers will benefit from a new, significantly larger service territory. With the addition of the Primus assets, Birch expects that a significant portion of its revenue in 2016 will come from its fast-growing fiber and managed services segments" (see, for example, "Birch Communications significantly expands metro fiber-optic network footprint").

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