Harbour ISP acquired by Adelaide's Uniti Group

Mudgee, NSW-based broadband retail service provider Harbour ISP has been acquired by ASX-listed Uniti Group for $9.25 million.

The acquisition expands Uniti’s retail service provider side of its business, with Harbour being both an NBN and OptiComm reseller for greenfield and multi-dwelling unit developments like apartments. Uniti earlier this year

In an ASX announcement, Uniti said Harbour’s “close alliances” with national developers like Mirvac through its “preferred ISP” status also made it an attractive buy for the company.

Harbour also doubles Uniti’s consumer and business enablement (CBE) business unit to more than 60,000 customers.

“We are delighted to have acquired Harbour ISP. Functional separation now enables us to actively promote retail broadband offerings on our owned networks and Harbour ISP, with its proven pedigree in the greenfield broadband market, is an outstanding platform for us to build specific capability as well as scale in our CBE business unit,” Uniti chief executive Michael Simmons said.

“With the now confirmed addition of OptiComm to the Uniti Group, our network of private fibre premises (connected, under construction or contracted to be connected) exceeds 400,000 connections. Given this large and growing footprint, the strategic value of acquiring Harbour as a specialist greenfield RSP is significant and timely.”

“We look forward to our CBE business, inclusive of Harbour ISP, continuing to profitably expand as further penetration and growth in average revenue per user on our owned fibre networks is delivered.”

The $9.25 million purchase price includes an option to acquire additional Uniti shares. Uniti expects Harbour’s EBITDA to reach more than $3 million in FY2022.

Founded in 2005, Harbour ISP was the sibling company of Sydney-based managed services provider Harbour IT, which is now part of Canon. The company counts NBN Co, OptiComm, LBNCo, OPENetworks, Optus, AAPT, Vocus and iVox as its technology partners.