Comcast Business signed an agreement to acquire Texas-based Masergy, a managed services provider with a global reach. The acquisition helps feed the appetite for growing the cable company’s business within the enterprise and SMB sectors.
Masergy currently serves over 1,400 customers in nearly 100 countries with a mix of business-grade and cloud-based services. Areas of focus for Masergy include managed SD-WAN, unified communications, and managed security for medium-sized and enterprise business customers.
“Masergy provides a perfect complement to our portfolio of enterprise services and solutions and will allow us to instantly and dramatically amplify our growth in the global enterprise market,” said Bill Stemper, President, Comcast Business in a prepared statement. “We’re excited to welcome Masergy’s employees and leadership to Comcast Business as we bring continued innovation and superior experience to our customers.”
Like other national cable companies, Comcast sees the business and enterprise sector as a growth engine for the company. In 2Q 2021, Comcast recorded $2.2 billion in sales for its business services’ unit, up 10% from 2020. Comcast is chasing larger communications providers like AT&T and Verizon for business services, both of whom had a significant head start.
By comparison, AT&T did $6 billion in revenue for its business services unit (not counting business mobility) in 2Q 2021. But companies like Comcast are making a dent, given AT&T’s business services revenue was down by 4% from a year ago.
Acquisition is one way for cable companies to close the gap more quickly. As an example, Cox recently acquired regional business fiber operator Segra to help grow its enterprise unit.
Masergy’s focus on SD-WAN is timely for Comcast Business. Market research firm Futuriom predicts the SD-WAN market to reach $2.6 billion in 2021, $3.5 billion by 2022, and $4.6 billion by 2023.
