Australian telecommunications company, Telstra, recently confirmed an acquisition of the local operation of neutral host 5G small cell provider, Dense Air, according to VoIP Review. While financial details and the timing of the transaction were not made public, information on the acquisition was included in a regulatory filing by One New Zealand, announcing its plan to acquire Dense Air’s New Zealand business.
Dense Air, based in the U.K., partners with cities and carriers to create a plug-and-play active neutral host 5G small cell infrastructure that it says efficiently densifies wireless networks and enhances network capacity in challenging environments. Two years ago, Dense Air spent nearly $20 million in Australia’s millimeter wave auction, securing 26 GHz spectrum in Sydney and Melbourne, in addition to the $12 million it spent in 2018 on 3.6 GHz licenses in several major Australian cities.
For Telstra, this transaction follows a failed partnership plan with TPG Telecom that was blocked by the Australian Competition Tribunal earlier this summer out of concerns that a combined Telstra-TPG operation would dominate the wireless market at the expense of Optus and Vodafone, Inside Towers reported. Telstra is the largest MNO in Australia and TPG Telecom is the fourth wireless carrier behind Optus and Vodafone, according to Inside Towers Intelligence.
At the same time, Dense Air’s exit from New Zealand, and now Australia, seems to have been a reversal of its strategy since Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners (SIP) acquired a majority stake in Dense Air in 2021, Inside Towers reported. SIP, a holding company, is backed by Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG), parent company to Google, and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
Dense Air seemed poised to escalate its service in August 2021, when it acquired TPG’s 2600 MHz spectrum in exchange for its own 3.6 GHz licenses. That deal seemed beneficial for both parties, enabling TPG to bolster its 3.6 GHz holdings while providing Dense Air with the nationwide 2600 MHz spectrum needed to expand its neutral host operations. Since the takeover by SIP, however, Dense Air’s Asia-Pacific regional expansion has been truncated, VoIP Review reported.
With this new acquisition, Telstra gains access to additional 2600 MHz mid-band spectrum on which the company says it will continue its mobile network expansion across Australia.
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