Vodafone NZ buys WorldxChange

See also: Five reasons Vodafone bought WorldxChange

UPDATED: Vodafone New Zealand, the nation's biggest mobile company, has acquired WorldxChange, adding an internet-based telecommunications business with customers including the Reserve Bank, the Earthquake Commission and IAG Insurance. 

No price was disclosed. WorldxChange's biggest shareholder, co-founder and chief technology officer Paul Clarkin is among executives at the firm who will join Vodafone, according to a Vodafone statement. He held 70.6 percent of the stock. 

Other shareholders included chief executive Glenn Johnstone, who will continue in that role under Vodafone ownership, chief financial officer Mark Stokes and chief operating officer Mike Purchase. 

"Everyone is coming across - that was one of the important things - we're a standalone business," Johnstone said. "I have a group of fantastic engineers but we're not very good at marketing and sales. Overnight we have access to Vodafone's sales team." 

The deal earned congratulations from Mike Tessler, chief executive of Nasdaq-listed Broadsoft, which counted WorldxChange as one of the first customers worldwide for its core switching platform. Vodafone globally has made a decision to move to Broadsoft technology. 

"WorldxChange is a longstanding Broadsoft channel partner that has built up significant expertise in next generation telephony and unified communications," Tessler said in the statement. 

Johnstone said there are "huge opportunities" for WorldxChange, particularly in the government sphere and there was "competitive tension" with Spark New Zealand. WorldxChange is optimistic it will be able to replicate what it does in New Zealand "into other Vodafone businesses around the world." 

The Commerce Commission's 2014 telecommunications report published this week noted an increasing number of customers using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), while traditional calls on fixed-line networks extended their declining trend. 

WorldxChange began in 1995 as a local subsidiary of US telco CTS, specialising in toll bypass telephony. It was bought out by management in 2001 and launched New Zealand's " first fully converged IP-based telco network" in 2004, according to its website. It uses the WXC brand. 

(BusinessDesk)