Australian ISP Family Tree

AOL Australia inactive

America Online's Australian service: launched 1998 from a 50/50 AOL-Bertelsmann JV (announced Oct 1997); restructured as a 50/50 AOL-AAPT joint venture (announced 30 Mar 2000) with exclusive AOL/CompuServe rights across PC and wireless platforms; became the three-way AOL|7 venture with Seven Network (merging Seven's i7 portal, Oct 2001); sold to Primus Telecommunications Feb 2004, which ran the AOL-branded ISP under licence until AOL access was withdrawn 31 May 2010.

Founded in Sydney, NSW. https://aol.net.au

Name history

NameFromTo
AOL Australia 1998 Oct 2001
AOL|7 by Oct 2001 Feb 2004
AOL Feb 2004 31 May 2010

Aliases

Lifecycle

KindDateDetailsRefs
birth 1998 AOL Australia JV announced 7 Oct 1997 (with Bertelsmann); service launched 1998 (beta from late April 1998; earliest aol.net.au capture 25 Apr 1998).
note by Nov 1998 by Took over the aol.com.au domain from the unrelated independent Australia Online Pty Ltd (ACN 062 945 242), whose Apr 1998 page explicitly disclaimed AOL affiliation; aol.com.au served AOL content from the 11 Nov 1998 capture (see australia-online).
note 30 Mar 2000 America Online and AAPT announced a new 50/50 joint venture to operate AOL Australia, with AOL taking over Bertelsmann's 50% interest (subject to FIRB approval). The JV held exclusive rights to offer the AOL and CompuServe services on PC and mobile wireless platforms in Australia, planned an integrated wireless-content portal over AAPT's CDMA network, and gave AOL Australia access to AAPT's 650,000-strong retail base and network infrastructure; MD Carol Veriga stepped down (Dr Brett Wayn appointed GM). official
note Oct 2001 approx Three-way AOL|7 joint venture formed by America Online, Seven Network and AAPT (equal thirds), merging Seven's i7 online service (launched Sep 2000) with the AOL site to deliver broadband content and cross-promotion between Seven, Pacific Publications and the ISP. wikipedia
note 11 Feb 2004 AOL, Seven and AAPT sold the AOL|7 joint venture to Primus Telecommunications for just over $23 million (Seven receiving more than $23m cash including its i7 investment; AAPT $7.5m for its one-third stake). Primus gained an exclusive licence to operate the AOL-branded internet service in Australia with no member disruption; AAPT took sole management of its ~48,000 smartchat dial-up/broadband customers back in-house. news news
death 31 May 2010 Primus withdrew AOL dialup/broadband access in Australia 31 May 2010, ending the AOL-branded service.
note The ABR entity AOL AUSTRALIA PTY LTD (ACN 633 469 468, SA) was registered only 16 May 2019 and is unrelated to the historical 1998-2010 AOL Australia / AOL|7 service; the earlier JV ran through AAPT/Seven and then under Primus Telecommunications' licence, not this company.

Transitions

DirectionTypeOther partyArm / notesYearRefs
incoming acquisition Australia Online Absorbed by AOL Australia. 1998 archive archive
outgoing acquisition Primus Telecommunications Australia AOL|7 JV sold; AOL brand licensed to Primus
AOL, Seven Network and AAPT sold the three-way AOL|7 joint venture to Primus Telecommunications for just over $23m; Primus took an exclusive licence to operate the AOL-branded ISP in Australia (~90,000 subscribers transferred per Summit Internet history. AAPT received $7.5m for its one-third stake and took sole management of ~48,000 smartchat dial-up/broadband customers back in-house; Seven received more than $23m cash including its i7 investment. AOL|7 was formed Oct 2001 from equal thirds of AOL, Seven (merging its i7 portal and AAPT, which had itself become AOL's 50/50 JV partner in Mar 2000 after taking over Bertelsmann's stake.		 Feb 2004 news news wikipedia

References

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