Colt Technology Services Group Limited (formerly COLT Telecom Group S.A.)
is a
multinational telecommunications
Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It was listed on the
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...
and was a constituent of the
FTSE 250 Index until it was acquired by
Fidelity Investments
Fidelity Investments, commonly referred to as Fidelity, earlier as Fidelity Management & Research or FMR, is an American multinational financial services corporation based in Boston, Massachusetts. The company was established in 1946 and is o ...
in August 2015. "Colt" stood for City Of London Telecom.
History
Colt was founded in 1992 by
Jim Hynes with funds provided by
Fidelity Investments
Fidelity Investments, commonly referred to as Fidelity, earlier as Fidelity Management & Research or FMR, is an American multinational financial services corporation based in Boston, Massachusetts. The company was established in 1946 and is o ...
as ''City Of London Telecommunications''.
The company began to construct a telecoms network in London.
In 1993 it was awarded a licence to compete with
British Telecom and
Cable and Wireless in voice and data transmission.
It was first listed on the
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...
in 1996.
The group later expanded into Europe, building networks in major European cities over the next 10 years.
In 2001 Fidelity helped the Company to raise a further £400m to finance its future activities. In 2005 the company reached its first year of positive cash flow, and in 2007 its first year of profit. In April 2009 Colt completed an Open Offer raising €199.1m (including a €9.7m foreign exchange gain) before expenses with the issue of 211.0 million shares. In 2010 Colt rebranded from COLT Telecom to Colt Technology Services, deleting the acronym ''City of London Telecommunications'' to reflect its pan-European nature. In May 2011 Colt acquired a majority shareholding in MarketPrizm, a provider of low latency market data and trading infrastructure services.
On 12 November 2014, Colt acquired KVH, a Japanese Telecom service provider, helping Colt to expand its capability in the growing Asian market.
In August 2015 the company was acquired by
Fidelity Investments
Fidelity Investments, commonly referred to as Fidelity, earlier as Fidelity Management & Research or FMR, is an American multinational financial services corporation based in Boston, Massachusetts. The company was established in 1946 and is o ...
.
On 2 November 2022, Colt entered into agreement to acquire Lumen Technologies' Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) business for $1.8 billion.
Operations
Colt has offices in 22 European countries, the US, India and Asia, with the company's network reaching 51 metro areas globally. The parent company's main centre of operations is based in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. Colt is organised as follows:
Network Services
Colt network services are “focused particularly on selected network intensive market segments: capital markets, media, cloud service providers and fixed and mobile network operators”.
Voice Services
Colt sells voice services that support “transition from traditional to next-generation voice services with a particular focus on Enterprise Voice, including IN services and IP Voice opportunities”.
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References
External links
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Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange
Telecommunications companies established in 1992
ICT service providers
Telecommunications companies of Luxembourg
Telecommunications companies of the United Kingdom
Internet service providers of the United Kingdom
Multinational companies headquartered in the United Kingdom
1992 establishments in England
2015 mergers and acquisitions
Telecommunications companies disestablished in 2015
2015 disestablishments in England