Hills Technology Solutions Group joint venture with fibre infrastructure provider

The Chairman of Hills Industries, Ms Jennifer Hill-Ling, today announced that an agreement has been signed with the owners of Opticomm Co Pty Limited to acquire 50% of their company. Opticomm Co has a leading market position in the provision of fibre infrastructure to deliver high speed voice, data and video to homes and multi-residential developments.

Opticomm Co has the technology and expertise to install fibre backbones for developers seeking to provide their potential customers with the latest in high speed voice, data and video services. Because the Opticomm Co system is based on an open platform, consumers have the ultimate choice of which services to install without being tied to a single carrier or service provider.

Fibre To The Home (FTTH) systems are being rapidly deployed around the world, albeit from a low base. Opticomm Co is well positioned to participate in the growth of FTTH technologies with services like Video on Demand and other Internet Protocol (IP) solutions (such as voice over IP and IPTV) likely to become the norm.

Opticomm Co has great expertise but its lack of financial resources has made it difficult for major developers to commit to their services. The acquisition by Hills of 50% of Opticomm Co will enable the business to grow rapidly and will give developers the comfort that Hills stands behind the company. Opticomm Co currently have commitments from the developers of two major projects in South Australia and Queensland to install FTTH networks in the event that the joint venture with Hills, as announced today, proceeds.

Today Opticomm Co is a small company but with our partners we believe that we will be able to grow the business strongly and that FTTH networks will be the conduit for additional product sales across the Hills Group including access control, security, CCTV, telephony and RF television services.