INTERNET Service Provider Ezecom announced late yesterday that it had acquired 100 percent of the shares of Cambodian wholesale fibre company Telcotech.

Ezecom Chief Executive Officer Paul Blanche-Horgan said that Telcotech brought a complementary strategic vision and product technologies to his company, and the combined companies would deliver greater value, in a statement announcing the purchase.

“By joining forces, we have a vast opportunity for further growth based on mutual strengths,” he said.

“We are continuing to improve and provide the Cambodian people worldwide-quality services, whilst reducing costs and making internet more available and affordable throughout the country.”

Ezecom runs a fibre network aimed at business and retail customers, as well as offering data centre, VoIP and other telecommunications services, the statement said.

Telcotech also controls a fibre network within Cambodia, but is also the sole Cambodian member of the Asia American Gateway submarine cable network consortium.

The AAG totals some 20,000 kilometres of high bandwidth submarine cable, connecting Southeast Asia to the United States along with other major fibre networks, according to Telcotech.

Yesterday, Blanche-Horgan told The Post it was the international exposure offered by the AAG that most attracted Ezecom.

“The main reason for buying the company was the AAG cable, which is really important for Cambodia,” he said.

The deal with Telcotech also increases Ezecom’s national coverage area by 40 percent, he said, though he declined to disclose the pricetag for the deal.

Blanche-Horgan also said that consumers will see Ezecom’s coverage area grow and product prices come down in about six months, admitting though that implementation “will take time”.

Reducing costs is a major step toward bringing internet services to Cambodia’s rural poor, which is also a central goal of Ezecom, the CEO said.

Blanche-Horgan said he wants to see connectivity brought to outlying villages and communes as a way to boost development in the country.

“Because the future of Cambodia, as far as I’m concerned, is internet,” he said.

Officials at Telcotech couldnot be reached for comment yesterday.