Oswestry, Shropshire-based TNS will become part of BT’s network and IT services division, BT Global Services, which its parent company is expanding aggressively in order to offset revenue declines from its traditional voice business.
In the last 12 months, BT Global Services has paid $575m for Californian network management company Infonet Services Corp, plus $154m for Italian network operator Albacom, and a further $175m for Reuters venture Radianz.
TNS is significantly smaller than these companies, with 92 employees providing LAN, IP telephony, wireless networking, and security services to public and private sector clients and network operators.
TNS made an operating profit of 1.7m pounds ($3m) on revenue of 13.7m pounds ($24m) in the year ending December 31, 2004. The company had gross assets of 9.1m pounds ($16m) at the end of last year.
TNS is best known in the UK for its sponsorship of a soccer team in the Welsh Premier League. BT said that they would not be continuing the sponsorship arrangement with the club, although TNS founder Mike Harris will continue to back on them on a private individual basis.
