Posted: 03rd Dec, 2009 By: MarkJ

Broadband ISP
Fast.co.uk has today announced the surprise acquisition of former rival
Firenet, a small but established broadband, dialup and hosting provider with a contact centre based in Ireland. Firenet had recently fallen off the map somewhat with a few customers complaining about service and support problems.
Commenting on the acquisition, Fast.co.uk's Mark Baker said:
"In these difficult times of a recession I am very proud that we have been able to invest a substantial amount into the UK and are proactively growing our business. This is a very exciting time for the management, staff and customers of both Fast.co.uk and Firenet.
We have an excellent line-up of new products and services that we will be launching over the next few months, geared to adding even greater value for both our existing and new customers. This new acquisition demonstrates our commitment to continue to provide the very best in service provision, which will continue to keep Fast.co.uk at the forefront of the industry."
Sadly the press release does not mention how existing customers will be affected by the acquisition and we hope to have more details on that soon. We do note that Firenet's website has already changed to offer a new range of 'up to' 24Mbps packages, starting at £16.99 per month (5GB usage allowance).
UPDATE 12:39pmHere's the latest from Fast.co.uk:
Fast.co.uk told ISPreview.co.uk:
"Existing Firenet customers won't be affected by the acquisition - they'll be offered the same service, backed by the support team they are familiar with. The Firenet website has been bought up-to-date with the Fast.co.uk packages, but I want to reassure customers that we won't be making them change. Fast.co.uk and Firenet will continue to trade as separate companies/brands."