Business Broadband ISP 4Com Acquire Another UK Telecoms Rival

Bournemouth-based communications, IT and broadband provider 4Com has recently been on somewhat of an acquisition spree, acquiring seven businesses over the past 16 months, and they’ve this week agreed their 8th purchase by acquiring part of FutureTel‘s (FT Security Systems Ltd) customer base for an undisclosed sum.

The latest acquisition is the second such deal completed in eight days for the Bournemouth-based telecoms company, after last week saw them gobble part of the customer base of Fairfield Telecom. Over the past 16 months, they’ve now also acquired Midshire Telecom, Eastern Voice and Data, Reach Digital Telecoms, Southern Business Communications, and done deals for the telecom customer bases of Bluebell Cloud Solutions and Meridian IT Communications.

As with the prior Bluebell, Meridian and Fairfield acquisitions, today’s deal will see 4Com purchase part of the customer base, with FutureTel itself continuing to trade.

Gary Scutt, 4Com’s CEO, said:

“We are thrilled to welcome FutureTel’s valued customers to the 4Com family. Being able to complete this customer base purchase so quickly after our Fairfield deal demonstrates how proficient we have become in completing acquisitions. With more on the horizon, this continues to be an exciting time for us, and I’d like to invite any businesses thinking of selling their whole business or customer base, no matter how big or small, to get in touch.”

The ISP appears to be so hungry to buy up UK rivals in the same space that they’ve even set-up a dedicated acquisitions page for fielding more interest from providers that might be thinking about selling up. As a result of all these deals 4Com – first established in 1999 – is currently believed to have a business customer base of around 13,000.