ATLANTA – U.S. telecom provider Birch Communications Inc. said Monday that it has completed the Canada component of its purchase of select assets and customers of Primus Telecommunications Canada Inc. and its affiliates.
Birch said that Primus represents the first international asset expansion in the company's 20-year history, and the extension of its geographic service footprint will allow it to serve customers across the U.S.-Canada border. Birch added that it will continue to use the Primus brand for its consumer business and will expand the Birch brand into Canada for business customers.
"We are excited to welcome the Primus customers into the Birch family, and we are eager to introduce these customers to our suite of products, fast-growing fiber footprint and managed services segments, and of course, our award-winning customer care," said Birch president and CEO Vincent Oddo, in the statement. "Primus is a great strategic fit as we work toward our goal of growing our service footprint to international markets. As a whole, our entire customer base will benefit from Birch's new, larger territory reach and robust product offerings."
Both Birch and Primus provide complementary product portfolios, each offering broadband internet, cloud-hosted PBX, dedicated data access, local phone, long distance and a variety of wholesale solutions.
Primus was granted protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) in January and sought approval of a plan to sell its business to Birch Communications for approximately $44 million. Primus serves more than 250,000 businesses and consumers throughout Canada.
