Telecommunications hardware supplier Commander Communications has continued its move into the telecommunications services market with the AU$59.9 million purchase of RSL COM.

The deal sees Commander's 100,000-strong business customer base increase by around 45 percent with the addition of RSL's 45,000 business customers, many of which were recently purchased from NewTel liquidators. RSL also provides services to 200,000 retail and wholesale residential customers, according to Ian Tsicalas, managing director of Commander.

This acquisition follows previous buy-outs of services providers, including Melbourne-based data services company EvolutionIT, and audio and video conferencing company UniTel.

"Commander Communications has a strong and established brand that can be leveraged further by adding telecommunication services to our product offering," said Tsicalas. Commander is 16 percent owned by Telstra.

Commander will keep the senior management group of RSL COM under two-year employment agreements incorporating non-compete provisions.

A lot of the features currently provided by telecommunications equipment will in the future be provided over a network using IP services, according to telecommunications analyst Paul Budde. He described the purchase as a 'good move' by Commander.

"It's a bit risky, they're two different business models," said Budde. "It will be interesting to see how the merge...into one business model."

"Now these companies will have to make that work, and it won't be easy," he said. "But it has potential."

RSL COM currently employs around 200 staff and provides approximately 200 million minutes of telecommunications services each month to its customers.

Copyright © 2009 CBS Interactive, a CBS Company. All Rights Reserved.
ZDNET is a registered service mark of CBS Interactive. ZDNET Logo is a service mark of CBS Interactive.