Equinix Ireland will be acquiring BT’s two data centres in Dublin.
The Irish Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has cleared the way for Equinix Ireland to acquire BT’s Irish data centre operations – BT Datacentres Ireland.
Equinix is a data centre provider with more than 270 data centres worldwide. In Dublin, the company operates six data centres. While the UK telco giant BT has two data centres in the Irish capital – one in CityWest and the other in Ballycoolin.
Equinix said that BT’s Dublin data centres are “optimally located [and] well-invested”, spanning roughly 150,000 sq feet combined. The company agreed to pay BT €59m to acquire its data centres in Ireland, as announced in December of last year.
The proposed acquisition was brought to the CCPC’s attention in January. It was concerned that the deal would lead to a substantial lessening of competition in Ireland. However, following an investigation, the CCPC has determined that the deal can proceed.
Mergers and acquisitions which meet certain financial thresholds should be brought to the CCPC’s attention for review, allowing the watchdog to determine whether any large deals can reduce competition in the market by creating an overly dominant player. Such situations can reduce choice for consumers, increase price and lead to less innovations.
In addition to data centres, Equinix’s Irish operations provides a number of ancillary services, which include providing digital services, interconnection and support services. While BT Datacentres Ireland also provides rack services and cabling services.
“The deal builds on our existing successful partnership with Equinix and ensures that customers will benefit from top-tier data centre services nationally and globally, allowing BT to specialise in our core strengths in cloud, networking and security,” said outgoing managing director of BT Ireland Shay Walsh at the time of the acquisition’s initial announcement last December.
Peter Lantry, the managing director of Equinix Ireland said: “This acquisition of assets from our existing facility enables us to continue to offer exceptional interconnection services from our unique global platform, augmenting the €35m annual contribution to national economic output arising from Equinix’s direct and indirect spend, measured in 2022.”
BT has been divesting from a number of its business units recently. In February, BT Ireland sold its wholesale and enterprise business units to Irish telecommunications company Speed Fibre Group.
Earlier this year, BT announced that it was stepping down as the title sponsor and organiser of the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, after 25 years in the role. The company said the decision was due to its business re-alignment strategy.
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