Start.ca to acquire St. Thomas fibre operations

Start.ca has entered into an agreement to purchase the St. Thomas fibre operations of Entegrus Services Inc.

LONDON-BASED ISP Start.ca announced on Thursday it had entered into an agreement to purchase the St. Thomas fibre operations of Entegrus Services Inc. (operating as Entegrus Fibre). Start.ca will take over the fibre operations effective July 1, 2022.

“We are grateful to be entrusted with the responsibility of continuing the great work started by Entegrus,” says Start.ca co-founder, Peter Rocca, in a released statement. “While most of our products are already available in St. Thomas, we are eager to bring the benefits of fast, reliable fibre internet to the entire city, and the opportunity to become even more involved in such a great community.”

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According to Start.ca, current Entegrus business customers in the city will be served by the Start.ca team with no disruption to service. As part of the acquisition, Start.ca has committed to a three-year buildout of fibre services spanning the entire city and will service both businesses and residents.

Start.ca has carved a niche as a major supplier of fibre optic cable to residential, commercial, industrial developments in London, a project it started back in 2015.  

“We are confident the team at Start.ca will be able to continue to provide the exceptional service that our customers expect,” states Jim Hogan, president & CEO of Entegrus. “Start.ca focuses on the customer experience, and has values closely tied to ours. It has been a pleasure serving our Fibre customers in St. Thomas and look forward to seeing this business continue to flourish with the capability and experience of its new owners.”

Start.ca co-founder, Peter Rocca

“The City of St. Thomas is excited that Start.ca will be taking over the Entegrus Fibre business,” adds St. Thomas Mayor Joe Preston. “With the support of Entegrus, this will ensure an easy transition. We look forward to working with Start.ca as they expand fibre service to all areas of St. Thomas.”

Based in Chatham, Entegrus Services took ownership of the St. Thomas fibre business in 2018 and expanded its services and community offerings throughout the downtown core and industrial areas of St. Thomas.

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“Our customer base grew by more than five times in the past few years, and with St. Thomas’ rapid growth, further expanding the fibre business to the residential areas of St. Thomas became the logical next step,” adds Hogan. “In order to achieve this growth in a reasonable timeframe it became apparent that we would require a partnership or sale to assist.”

Entegrus will continue to own and operate its data centre located in Chatham and focus resources on its core business of electricity distribution and industry related administrative services, while supporting the electrification of the communities it serves.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.