GTT Communications

In 1998, telecom services integrator Global Internetworking Inc. was founded in McLean, Virginia.[1] That same year, European Telecom and Technology was founded in London.[1]

In April 2005, Mercator Partners, a special purpose acquisition company bought both Global Internetworking Inc. and European Telecommunications & Technology in 2006, merging the two companies' operations and renaming it Global Telecom & Technology, Inc. (GTT).[2][3]

In December 2009, GTT acquired Denver-based WBS Connect in a stock and cash transaction, shifting its business model to a network operator providing IP transit and Ethernet services.[4]

In June 2011, GTT acquired PacketExchange, a privately held UK company and operator of a global IP backbone, for $20 million in cash.[5]

In May 2012, GTT acquired nLayer Communications, a privately held global IP backbone, for $18 million.[6]

In April 2013, GTT acquired the Tier 1 IP network, Tinet (formerly Tiscali International Network), from Inteliquent for $54.5 million in cash and services, resulting in Tier 1 status for GTT's global IP network.[7] In June 2013 GTT was listed on the New York Stock Exchange, under the symbol GTT.[8]

On January 14, 2014, GTT officially changed its name to GTT Communications, Inc.[9] In February 2014, GTT announced opening a new office in Hong Kong's Central District, bringing its total to 9 offices in 6 countries.[10] In October 2014, GTT announced it had closed the acquisition of UNSi, a communications company providing data services to large enterprise and carrier clients.[11]

On February 19, 2015, GTT entered into a definitive agreement to acquire MegaPath’s managed services business, which provides private wide-area-networking, Internet access services, managed services and managed security to multinational clients.[12] On October 22, 2015, GTT acquired One Source Networks (OSN), a provider of data, Internet, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking and managed services.[13]

On February 9, 2016, GTT acquired Telnes Broadband for $18 million.[14] On October 7, 2016, GTT announced the award of Government Services Administrations (GSA) IT Schedule 70 Contract. The IT Schedule 70 is the largest acquisition vehicle in the United States federal government.[15]

On January 9, 2017, GTT completed the acquisition of Hibernia Networks for $590 million.[16] The company acquired five subsea cables, including Hibernia Express (now GTT Express), a low latency transatlantic cable system.[17] In May, GTT purchased IP broker and aggregator Giglinx, for $21 million.[18] On June 19, GTT announced it was acquiring Perseus Telecom, a provider of low latency services for the financial market industry, for $37.5 million.[19] On June 26, GTT announced it was acquiring Massachusetts-based telecommunications provider Global Capacity, for $100 million and 1.85 million shares of GTT common stock.[20] The deal closed on September 18.[21][22]

In January 2018, GTT announced the acquisition of Custom Connect, an Amsterdam-headquartered provider of high speed network connectivity for multinational enterprises and financial services firms.[23] On February 26, GTT announced the acquisition of Interoute, operator of one of Europe's largest independent fiber networks and cloud networking platforms, for approximately €1.9 billion ($2.3 billion) in cash. The deal subsequently closed on May 31.[24] On March 12, GTT expanded its Canadian footprint by acquiring Toronto-based telecommunications company Accelerated Connections.[25] On October 1, GTT acquired Cary, NC-based Access Point, a provider of communications services in the US market.[26]

On December 2, 2019, GTT completed its acquisition of KPN International, a division of Netherlands-based telecommunications company KPN N.V., operating a global IP network serving enterprise and carrier clients.[27]

On October 16, 2020, GTT announced an agreement with I Squared Capital to sell the infrastructure division of GTT. The division consists of a pan-European, North American, and subsea fiber network and data center assets and associated infrastructure services provided to customers which were acquired by GTT through the Hibernia, Interoute and KPN International acquisitions.[28]

On August 2, 2021, The New York Stock Exchange delisted GTT Communications' shares after it failed to file its quarterly and annual results.[29]

On September 2, 2021, GTT announced that the company and certain U.S.-based subsidiaries planned to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York as part of a Pre-packaged insolvency agreement, following the completion of the sale of its infrastructure division. The company said it expected to continue operating without interruption, with the support of its lenders. [30]

On September 17, 2021, GTT completed the long-anticipated sale of its infrastructure division to Miami-based I Squared Capital for total cash considerations of approximately $1.74 billion, with other cash amounts anticipated to be paid to GTT in the future, contingent on certain milestones. [31]

On December 16, 2021, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved GTT’s Prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan. The Prepackaged Plan enables GTT to improve its capital structure and execute its long-term business strategy.[32]

As of the 3rd of January 2023, GTT Communications, a provider of managed network and security services, has successfully emerged from all its chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, reducing its debt by $2.8 billion and attracting new investors. The company, which declared bankruptcy under chapter 11 in October 2021, confirmed that it has finalized its financial restructuring. The declaration follows a deal made in December 2022, where GTT negotiated with major creditors to adjust its reorganization strategy due to the prevailing macroeconomic hurdles.

GTT's bankruptcy situation was preceded by a series of mergers and acquisitions. The chapter 11 plan entailed GTT offloading its infrastructure unit to I Squared Capital for a sum of $2.1 billion. This transaction gave GTT an initial advantage in addressing its debt obligations. At present, GTT has managed to diminish its debt by roughly 80%, as per the company's official statement.

As of 2019, GTT was one of the five largest Internet backbones in terms of traffic.[34] The company's high speed Internet services include IP transit, dedicated internet access and broadband internet services. GTT also operates a 100% native dual stack (IPv4 and IPv6) carrier class network built on optical infrastructure.[35]

GTT provides WAN services, including SD-WAN, VPLS, MPLS, and Ethernet point-to-point services, which are transported across the company's Tier 1 global IP network.[16][36]

GTT offers a Managed SD-WAN solution that combines a superior network underlay with a secure, cloud-enabled, policy-based overlay for the control and efficiency needed to manage the entire network. GTT’s Managed SD-WAN solution enables businesses to connect users and branch offices to critical applications securely and efficiently, it brings significant agility benefits to organizations versus a traditional WAN architecture or managed multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) solution, and generates cost savings and network management efficiencies for businesses.

GTT offers Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), that integrates software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) and managed Secure Service Edge (SSE) functionality, like cloud access security brokers (CASB), zero-trust network access (ZTNA) and firewall as a service (FWaaS) into a complete networking and cloud-based cybersecurity solution. Secure Connect is a tailored SASE solution which closes data security gaps for a reliable, secure, and resilient network that is easily managed and fully scalable.

GTT offers end-to-end network management, with managed services that include managed network services and multilayered security services.[37]

GTT's enterprise voice services include SIP trunking, with termination services offered to more than 155 countries across the globe. GTT also offers Cloud Phone System Direct service which provides PSTN access to users via pre-established connections to software as a service (SaaS) providers of unified collaboration apps including Microsoft Teams, Zoom Phone and Cisco Webex call routing capabilities.[38][13]