GTT Communications, Inc. (GTT), formerly Global Telecom and Technology, 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 ...
and
internet service provider
An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise privat ...
company with headquarters in
McLean, Virginia
McLean ( ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. McLean is home to many diplomats, military, members of Congress, and high-ranking government officials partially due to its proxi ...
, and incorporated in
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
. GTT operates a
Tier 1 IP network, and provides
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
;
wide area network
A wide area network (WAN) is a telecommunications network that extends over a large geographic area. Wide area networks are often established with leased telecommunication circuits.
Businesses, as well as schools and government entities, u ...
ing,
SD-WAN
A software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) is a wide area network that uses software-defined network technology, such as communicating over the Internet using overlay tunnels which are encrypted when destined for internal organization location ...
; security, managed services; and voice and video transport services.
History
1998–2006
In 1998, telecom services integrator Global Internetworking Inc. was founded in McLean, Virginia.
That same year, European Telecom and Technology was founded in London.
In April 2005, Mercator Partners, a
special purpose acquisition company bought both Global Internetworking Inc. and European Telecommunications & Technology in 2006, merging the two companies' operations and renaming it Global Telecom & Technology, Inc. (GTT).
2006–2020
In December 2009, GTT acquired
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
-based WBS Connect in a stock and cash transaction, shifting its business model to a network operator providing
IP transit
Internet transit is the service of allowing network traffic to cross or "transit" a computer network, usually used to connect a smaller Internet service provider (ISP) to the larger Internet. Technically, it consists of two bundled services:
* The ...
and
Ethernet
Ethernet () is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 1 ...
services.
In June 2011 GTT acquired PacketExchange, a privately held UK company and operator of a global
IP backbone, for $20 million in cash.
In May 2012 GTT acquired nLayer Communications, a privately held global IP backbone, for $18 million.
In April 2013 GTT acquired the Tier 1 IP network, Tinet (formerly Tiscali International Network), from
Inteliquent
Inteliquent is a communications enabler offering network-based voice and messaging services to wireless, cable, carriers and communication service providers. The products of Inteliquent include voice, toll-free, messaging, and emergency services. ...
for $54.5 million in cash and services, resulting in Tier 1 status for GTT's global IP network. In June 2013 GTT was listed on the
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...
, under the symbol GTT.
On January 14, 2014, GTT officially changed its name to GTT Communications, Inc. In February 2014, GTT announced opening a new office in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
's Central District, bringing its total to 9 offices in 6 countries. In October 2014, GTT announced it had closed the acquisition of UNSi, a communications company providing data services to large enterprise and carrier clients.
On February 19, 2015, GTT entered into a definitive agreement to acquire
MegaPath
MegaPath was a business telecommunications company. In 2018, MegaPath was acquired by cloud service provider Fusion Connect for $71.5 million. Founded in 1996, it provides a voice, unified communications, internet access, Managed Security Servi ...
’s managed services business, which provides private wide-area-networking, Internet access services, managed services and managed security to multinational clients.
On October 22, 2015, GTT acquired One Source Networks (OSN), a provider of data, Internet, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking and managed services.
On February 9, 2016, GTT acquired Telnes Broadband for $18 million. On October 7, 2016, GTT announced the award of Government Services Administrations (GSA) IT Schedule 70 Contract. The IT Schedule 70 is the largest acquisition vehicle in the United States federal government.
On January 9, 2017, GTT completed the acquisition of
Hibernia Networks
Hibernia Networks, alternately known as Hibernia Atlantic, was a privately held, US-owned provider of telecommunication services. It operated global network routes on self-healing rings in North America, Europe and Asia including submarine comm ...
for $590 million.
The company acquired five subsea cables, including Hibernia Express (now GTT Express), a low latency transatlantic cable system. In May, GTT purchased IP broker and aggregator Giglinx, for $21 million. On June 19, GTT announced it was acquiring Perseus Telecom, a provider of low latency services for the financial market industry, for $37.5 million. On June 26, GTT announced it was acquiring Massachusetts-based telecommunications provider
Global Capacity
Global Capacity is a Waltham, Massachusetts-based provider of telecommunications Connectivity-as-a-Service including Carrier Ethernet, used by companies for Internet access and WAN connectivity. Network services are offered using the company's ...
, for $100 million and 1.85 million shares of GTT common stock. The deal closed on September 18.
In January 2018, GTT announced the acquisition of Custom Connect, an Amsterdam-headquartered provider of high speed network connectivity for multinational enterprises and financial services firms. On February 26, GTT announced the acquisition of
Interoute
Interoute Communications Ltd was a privately held telecommunications company that operated large cloud service platforms in Europe. On 23 February 2018, Interoute was acquired by GTT Communications for $2.3bn (€1.9bn); and the acquisition clo ...
, operator of one of Europe's largest independent fiber networks and cloud networking platforms, for approximately €1.9 billion ($2.3 billion) in cash. The deal subsequently closed on May 31. On March 12, GTT expanded its Canadian footprint by acquiring Toronto-based telecommunications company Accelerated Connections. On October 1, GTT acquired
Cary, NC
Cary is a town in Wake and Chatham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina and is part of the Raleigh–Cary, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area. According to the 2020 Census, its population was 174,721, making it the seventh largest mun ...
-based Access Point, a provider of communications services in the US market.
On December 2, 2019 GTT completed its acquisition of KPN International, a division of Netherlands-based telecommunications company
KPN N.V., operating a global IP network serving enterprise and carrier clients.
On October 16, 2020, GTT announced an agreement with
I Squared Capital
I Squared Capital is a private equity firm focusing on global infrastructure investments. The company invests in energy, utilities, transport and telecom projects in North America, Europe and select high growth economies, such as India and China.
...
to sell the infrastructure division of GTT. The division consists of a pan-European, North American, and subsea fiber network and data center assets and associated infrastructure services provided to customers which were acquired by GTT through the
Hibernia
''Hibernia'' () is the Classical Latin name for Ireland. The name ''Hibernia'' was taken from Greek geographical accounts. During his exploration of northwest Europe (c. 320 BC), Pytheas of Massalia called the island ''Iérnē'' (written ). ...
,
Interoute
Interoute Communications Ltd was a privately held telecommunications company that operated large cloud service platforms in Europe. On 23 February 2018, Interoute was acquired by GTT Communications for $2.3bn (€1.9bn); and the acquisition clo ...
and KPN International acquisitions.
2021–present
On August 2, 2021, The New York Stock Exchange delisted GTT Communications' shares after it failed to file its quarterly and annual results.
On September 2, 2021, GTT announced that the company and certain U.S.-based subsidiaries planned to file for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York as part of a
Pre-packaged insolvency
Pre-packaged insolvency (a "pre-pack") is a kind of bankruptcy procedure, where a restructure plan is agreed in advance of a company declaring its insolvency. In the United States pre-packs are often used in a Chapter 11 filing. In the United Kin ...
agreement, following the completion of the sale of its infrastructure division. The company said it expected to continue operating without interruption, with the support of its lenders.
On September 17, 2021, GTT completed the long-anticipated sale of its infrastructure division to Miami-based
I Squared Capital
I Squared Capital is a private equity firm focusing on global infrastructure investments. The company invests in energy, utilities, transport and telecom projects in North America, Europe and select high growth economies, such as India and China.
...
for total cash considerations of approximately $1.74 billion, with other cash amounts anticipated to be paid to GTT in the future, contingent on certain milestones.
On December 16, 2021, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved GTT’s Prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan. The Prepackaged Plan enables GTT to improve its capital structure and execute its long-term business strategy.
Operations
The company operated a network of over 650
points of presence
A point of presence (PoP) is an artificial demarcation point or network interface point between communicating entities. A common example is an ISP point of presence, the local access point that allows users to connect to the Internet with their ...
(PoPs). The network spans six continents, and provides services to clients in more than 140 countries.
[
]
Internet
As of 2019, GTT was one of the five largest Internet backbones in terms of traffic. The company's high speed Internet services include IP transit, dedicated internet access and broadband internet services. GTT also operates a 100% native dual stack (IPv4 and IPv6) carrier class network built on optical infrastructure.
Wide area networking
GTT provides WAN services, including SD-WAN, VPLS, MPLS, and Ethernet point-to-point services, which are transported across the company's Tier 1 global IP network.[
]
Managed services
GTT offers end-to-end network management, with managed services that include managed network services and multilayered security services.
Enterprise Voice
GTT's enterprise voice services include SIP trunking SIP trunking is a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology and streaming media service based on the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) by which Internet telephony service providers (ITSPs) deliver telephone services and unified communications t ...
, with termination services offered to more than 155 countries across the globe. GTT also offers Cloud Phone System Direct service which provides PSTN access to users via pre-established connections to software as a service
Software as a service (SaaS ) is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. SaaS is also known as "on-demand software" and Web-based/Web-hosted software.
SaaS is con ...
(SaaS) providers of unified collaboration apps including Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is a proprietary business communication platform developed by Microsoft, as part of the Microsoft 365 family of products. Teams primarily competes with the similar service Slack, offering workspace chat and videoconferencin ...
and Cisco Webex
Webex by Cisco is an American company that develops and sells web conferencing, videoconferencing and contact center as a service applications. It was founded as WebEx in 1995 and taken over by Cisco Systems in 2007. Its headquarters are in San ...
call routing capabilities.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:GTT Communications Inc.
Telecommunications companies of the United States
Companies formerly listed on NYSE American
Companies based in McLean, Virginia
Content delivery networks
Tier 1 networks
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2021