Kenya Wi-Fi Company BRCK Buys Rival Surf for Expansion

(Bloomberg) -- BRCK, a Kenyan internet provider, has bought rival Surf to become one of the biggest public Wi-Fi networks in sub-Saharan Africa. The terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

The acquisition includes Surf’s U.S.-based parent Everlayer and extends BRCK’s network to more than 2,500 hotspots across the two East African countries, the Nairobi-based company said in an emailed statement Friday. BRCK had 1,500 hotspots before the acquisition, according to Director of Commercialization Christian Doyen.

Kenya had 42.2 million active internet subscriptions as at September last year, according to the industry regulator.

In January BRCK began fundraising for $10 million in equity and a similar amount of debt, Doyen said in a text message in response to questions. The exercise will end in June and most of the money will be spent on network expansion, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Eric Ombok in Nairobi at eombok@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Katerina Petroff at kpetroff@bloomberg.net, Hilton Shone, David Malingha

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