Cybernet Internet Services International, Inc, a US holding company with a European backbone and operating units in Germany, Austria and Italy, is expanding into Switzerland via the acquisition of a majority stake in Sunweb Internet Services SIS AG. The ISP, with joint headquarters in Zurich and Lausanne, currently has a network with 10 points of presence (PoPs), serving some 2,500 business customers with dial-up access at local rates, as well as other ISPs who channel their dial-up business through Sunweb. The plan, said Cybernet, is to expand the network to some 30 PoPs, as well as underscoring SunwebÆs offering with the new parentÆs backbone provision. Cybernet, though headquartered in the US, is very much a European-oriented business, so much so that it is listed on both the OTC market on Nasdaq and FrankfurtÆs Neuer Markt, where it carried out an initial public offering (IPO) in December (11/25/98). In addition to operating as an ISP, primarily for the corporate market, in Germany, Austria and northern Italy, it also holds a license to run a full range of telecoms services in Germany. At the time of its IPO last year, the company said it planned to use the funds raised to finance acquisitions such as this latest one. It has yet to expand into France, which the company has cited as a strategic target.
