CEO Rene Sugo told Capacity that MNF will then attempt to replicate the model across the region, in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea.
“We need to bed down Singapore first and we’ll be looking to prove this model before moving to other developed countries in Asia.” He confirmed to Capacity that “there are no active talks at the moment” about potential acquisitions beyond Singapore – but he also added Malaysia and Indonesia to his list of possible target countries.
His idea is to use SuperInternet in Singapore to offer the services the MNF group provides in Australia and New Zealand through Symbio Networks. “We provide a lot of value-added services, more and more services in more and more countries. We are looking to do more countries across the region to become a regional player.”
SuperInternet “is a very small niche operator”, said Sugo. “We didn’t buy them for their customer base but for their footprint.” Acquiring SuperInternet is a faster route to building a presence in Singapore than starting from nothing, he said.
Symbio – which last month launched a wholesale voice network in New Zealand – provides domestic interconnectivity, fixed local and mobile numbers, local SIP trunks and number portability. Its New Zealand operation is built using the same platform as the Australian business, enabling carriers entering the Australia and New Zealand market to have access to both countries under one agreement.
“We can provide carriers with a virtual presence in a country,” Sugo told Capacity. “Many are looking for B-ends but they don’t want to build their own network.”
MNF spent $1.5 million on the SuperInternet acquisition, with a dark fibre network in Singapore’s central business district and a fully interconnected voice network infrastructure.
