ASX-listed cloud communications provider Comms Group has acquired Sydney-based telco and managed service provider for $8.67 million. Next Telecom is a business telco specialising in SME and mid-sized corporate businesses, offering corporate data services (corporate fibre and NBN), cloud IP telephony, managed IT services, managed security offerings and other telco services. Comms Group said the acquisition is “transformational” for the company, with a significant increase in scale, product offerings and customer base. “There is strong strategic rationale for the acquisition of Next Telecom,” Comms Group chief executive and managing director Peter McGrath said. “The acquisition provides a complementary customer base, expanding and diversifying the Comms Group’s customer base with significantly less reliance on any one customer, particularly in the corporate mid-market sector (100 seats plus).