Cogent buys German network assets

Cogent Communications today announced it has filled a critical hole in its Western Europe network and has converged its international and domestic network assets onto one platform.

Cogent purchased for $19.5 million the dark fiber and other network assets of Carrier1 International, a German company that went into insolvency in 2002. The infrastructure adds fourteen markets to Cogent’s pan-European network and compliments the carrier’s recent acquisition of LambdaNet’s Spanish and French network assets. Cogent now has points of presence in 55 European markets as well as its nationwide original Ethernet assets and the assets of PSINet in the U.S.

In addition, Cogent has converged its disparate networks onto one autonomous system number, meaning all of its fiber assets now function as a single network, requiring no hops to travel anywhere within Cogent’s footprint. Cogent formerly used its traditional assets for direct customer links and PSINet assets for peering. Those functions are now performed across all of its assets.

"As you grow into a global or a multinational ISP like Cogent, one AS number becomes very important to customers," a Cogent spokesman said. "The less hops the better."

Cogent officials said the company acquired the Carrier1 assets for pennies on the dollar, brokering a deal with the companies creditors after a similar deal with LambdaNet’s German arm fell through. When Cogent LamdaNet’s Spanish and French networks were acquired earlier this year, it optioned the company’s German assets, but Cogent officials said they could come to terms to close the deal.

The company will fully integrate its European assets in the coming weeks and launch its European product set next quarter.