Vocus acquires private LTE/5G provider Challenge Networks

Vocus has signed a contract to acquire its long-time partner, Challenge Networks — a market leader in designing and deploying private mobile networks. The acquisition builds on Vocus’s strategy to provide secure, high-capacity connectivity to Australian enterprise and government customers through its national fibre, satellite and now wireless network infrastructure.

As a provider of private LTE/5G networks, Challenge Networks designs, deploys and operates private 4G and 5G networks for customers that require secure, reliable, high-capacity wireless coverage to support operational technology (OT) use cases on their sites. These custom-built mobile networks can be deployed on sites such as mines, hospitals, universities, floating platforms at sea, vessels, ports, manufacturing and logistics sites, or any other special-purpose site.

“Challenge Networks’ expertise in deploying private LTE is a perfect match for Vocus’s extensive experience supporting Australia’s government, defence, utilities and resources sector customers with our fibre network and low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite capability, both of which provide coverage in areas others don’t,” said Vocus Chief Executive – Enterprise & Government Andrew Wildblood.

“Through this acquisition, Vocus will be able to provide fibre or LEO satellite connectivity to the perimeter of a site, and then through a private LTE network provide campus-wide wireless connectivity for applications such as autonomous vehicles, IoT sensors, building management systems, voice calls, push-to-talk devices, smartphones, tablets and computers anywhere on the site.”

Challenge Networks co-founder Simon Lardner will join the Vocus business, along with Challenge Networks staff, while co-founder Jack Smyth will retire from the business. The acquisition will enable Vocus to build more private LTE and 5G networks for customers and then provide them with a fully managed service on a service-billed basis, rather than customers having to fund the infrastructure build.

The deal will also give Vocus a significant inventory of mobile spectrum, with a geographic focus in the resource-rich regions of Western Australia, Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory. This should enable Vocus to deploy private mobile networks to companies with operational technology requirements in these regions without regulatory delays and with superior mobile service levels and bandwidth utilisation.

As part of its wider network and product offering, Vocus will now integrate full turnkey private mobile network capability including site survey, spectrum planning, network design, RF engineering, vendor selection, procurement, delivery, acceptance testing and ongoing service operation and network assurance.

Image caption: An engineer overlooking a Challenge Networks private LTE deployment.