Primus subsidiary HotKey has continued on the acquisition trail by adding three small ISPs to its ranks.
Regional providers Blue Mountains Internet in New South Wales and Standard.net in Victoria have joined Melbourne-based national service UseOz on the HotKey books. They have swelled its subscriber base by an estimated 500, 2,000 and 7,000 users respectively to a total of more than 76,000.
Blue Mountains will be converted into a franchise as HotKey has no local presence in the area, UseOz will be spread among existing franchises and Standard.net will become part of HotKey's south coast business.
Campbell Sallabank, general manager of Internet for Primus, said the telco would continue a two-pronged acquisition program of incorporating major players through its iPrimus brand while "mopping up the low end of the market through HotKey".
"HotKey has made a lot of acquisitions during the past two years and we will be looking to continue adding one per month.
"We detect when businesses are for sale locally through agents and computer shops, often buying them before anyone else realises they are available," explained Sallabank.
