Illuminet To Acquire BSI-WS

Olympia-based Illuminet Holdings Inc., a provider of SS7 network and database services to telcos, Tuesday sealed a pact to acquire BellSouth’s International roaming and clearinghouse subsidiary BellSouth International Wireless Services (BSI-WS).

Olympia said the total purchase price is $25 million, subject to normal closing adjustments. BSI-WS is a clearinghouse provider for carriers like Cingular Wireless, and the agreement includes migration of this traffic to Illuminet’s new wireless clearinghouse service by December 2001.

“This acquisition is uniquely valuable for Illuminet because it not only adds wireless clearinghouse customers and capabilities to our service offerings, but also helps us to expand internationally by extending our expertise in domestic wireless services beyond our borders and throughout Latin America,” said Roger H. Moore, chief executive officer of Illuminet. “It also creates new opportunities for growth in areas such as transport and clearing of short text messaging. In addition, this acquisition expands the market potential for our prepaid services in the U.S., which we acquired last year.”

The acquisition is expected to close within the next 30 days.