Arqiva Shells Out £2.5 Billion for National Grid Wireless

LONDON, April 3: Arqiva Limited, owned by Macquarie UK Broadcast Ventures, has agreed to a £2.5-billion deal to take control of National Grid Wireless, which provides broadcast transmission services for BBC television and radio, hosts wireless sites for major mobile network operators, and owns and operates two Freeview digital TV multiplexes.

Arqiva is the other main transmission services provider in the U.K., with a client list that includes ITV, Channel 4 and Five. Formerly owned by NTL (now Virgin Media), the venture was taken over by Australia’s Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group in 2005 and renamed Arqiva.

Tom Bennie, Arqiva’s CEO, said of today’s deal: "We firmly believe that combining Arqiva and National Grid Wireless will result in a stronger entity which is better positioned to serve the needs of the U.K.’s broadcast and mobile communications industries in the future. We will be able to deliver large-scale projects of national importance, such as Digital Switch Over, much more effectively and efficiently. This will also enhance our prospects in the mobile outsourcing market. Having a single broadcast transmission service provider brings the U.K. into line with most of the rest of the world. The U.K.’s terrestrial broadcast transmission network will be in a much better position to ensure that terrestrial broadcasting remains a powerful and innovative service in the future."

The transaction will be subject to a review by the UK Competition authorities that is expected to last about a year.