Australian telecommunications firm Telstra will buy Digicel Pacific for $1.6 billion, in a government-supported move reportedly aimed at shutting out China-backed players from acquiring the regionally dominant company.

Telstra announced Monday it had received $1.3 billion in funding from Canberra to buy the South Pacific's leading mobile and internet provider, which operates in Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and Nauru.

Australia's government said the deal reflected its "Pacific Step-Up" commitment to support the development of secure and reliable infrastructure in the region.

"This is fundamentally in the interests of both Australia and our Pacific family," a foreign and trade ministries joint statement said.

Canberra announced its renewed Pacific engagement strategy in 2018 as a political counterweight to China in the region, which has seen Australia offer greater financial aid to its developing neighbours.

The Australian Financial Review reported Canberra backed the Digicel acquisition amid concerns the strategically important asset could fall under Beijing's control if a Chinese state-owned firm bought it.

Telstra, which will contribute $270 million of equity toward the purchase price, said the deal presents a "unique commercial opportunity".

"The financial arrangements make it very attractive for Telstra and it strengthens our relationships with the Australian government and the Pacific region," CEO Andrew Penn said.

The purchase from current owner and founder, billionaire Irish businessman Denis O'Brien, is expected to be completed within six months.

hr/rbu

TELSTRA

Related Links
Cyberwar - Internet Security News - Systems and Policy Issues

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

US and UK research labs collaborate on autonomy and artificial intelligence
Rome NY (SPX) Oct 21, 2021
The Air Force Research Laboratory, in partnership with UK's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), have demonstrated for the first time the ability for the U.S. and the UK to jointly develop, select, train, and deploy state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms in support of the Armed Forces of each of the two nations. This research is designed to support adjacent, collaborating, U.S. and UK brigades with enduring wide-area situational awareness, which aims to improve decision-making, ... read more