Superloop lands $25m NBN connection deal with Symbio Networks

Fibre network company Superloop (ASX:SLC) has stitched up a deal with long-time partner Symbio Networks — a division of listed cloud communications play MNF Group (ASX:MNF).

Under the terms of the agreement, SLC will become the exclusive supplier of wholesale nbn aggregation services to Symbio via its Superloop Connect platform.

The Connect platform is an application programming interface (API) that provides streamlined access to nbn services for customers of any size.

SLC said the deal will be worth at least $25m, which is its largest contract win to date. The news sent Superloop shares around five per cent higher in morning trade.

As a network infrastructure company, Superloop owns Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong.

In addition, its network is connected to all the NBN Points of Interconnect across Australia. Superloop also operates its own fixed wireless network.

The company’s connectivity to the NBN allows it to provide gateway services via NBN backhaul services and the virtual NNI in a “cost competitive way”, SLC said.

With reliable connectivity to NBN fixed and wireless servcies, customers can also deliver those services “to any of the mainstream data centres in Australia” via the Connect platform.

Superloop CEO Paul Tyler said the deal with Symbio builds on the two companies’ “long-standing and successful relationship”.

“The Superloop network has been designed for this very purpose and we’ve built significant capacity to cater for the continued growth we are anticipating across Australia.”

The company has had its NBN connection network in place since 2019, when it established connectivity for all 121 NBN POIs (points of interconnection).

Aside from a brief slump to around 50c at the height of the COVID-19 crisis, shares in SLC have traded in a range near $1 for most of the last two years.

The stock slipped back from levels close to $2, after a proposed takeover bid from the Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) at $1.95 per share fell through.

SLC is backed by prominent tech investor Bevan Slattery, who popped up on an edition of Stockhead’s Director Trades series last October, with news that he’d chipped in to buy another $274,463 worth of Superloop stock.

The company is scheduled to release its half-year results to the market tomorrow.