Cloud communications provider Alianza says that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire communications software provider Metaswitch from Microsoft.
When the deal is completed, Alianza says it will have a customer base of more than 1,000 communications service providers, including 19 of the top 20 global operators. Alianza says the integration with Metaswitch will provide customers with the opportunity for revenue growth, greater deployment flexibility, increased operational simplicity, and more aggressive innovation roadmaps.
The announcement offered some insight into the rationale for the transaction. During the past decade, it says, service providers have bet — to the tune of multiple trillions of dollars — that network capacity increases would increase revenue.
The bet, according to Alianza, has not paid off. Revenue has stagnated and service providers have “neglected their patchwork of legacy infrastructure, technology, and systems.” This has led to a gap in the ability to grow, or even maintain, revenue.
The move will push against this trend, the company says. “The acquisition of Metaswitch is about resetting the playing field and enabling service providers to reassert their market leadership,” Brian Beutler, Alianza’s founder and CEO said in the announcement.
“The Alianza cloud communications platform empowers operators to monetize network investments through improved customer experiences and the delivery of modern, high-margin communications service offerings.”
The announcement offered no details about the transaction other than to say that it is expected to close during the first quarter of next year.
Before Alianza, Microsoft acquired Metaswitch in May 2020. At the time, Microsoft said that it saw an opportunity for its Azure cloud platform in the communications segment. The acquisition was an attempt to tap into that market. Microsoft had just acquired communications software developer Affirmed Networks.
