HotKey Internet inactive
Melbourne SMB ISP founded 1996; Primus acquired 60% March 1998, remaining 40% January 1999, but the HotKey brand continued as a Primus subsidiary (18 franchises) acquiring more ISPs through 2004 (HOTKEY INTERNET SERVICES PTY LTD, ACN 075 759 821).
Name history
| Name | From | To |
|---|---|---|
| HotKey Internet | 1996 |
Lifecycle
| Kind | Date | Details | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|
| birth | 1996 | HotKey Internet founded October 1996. | |
| death | c. 2019 approx | Brand wound down after last acquisitions (still a Primus subsidiary). HotKey kept selling broadband/dialup until its site was blanked between early 2019 and 25 Aug 2019, exactly matching the c. 2019 proposal. full retail ISP site into early 2019; homepage blanked by Aug 2019. | archive archive |
Transitions
| Direction | Type | Other party | Arm / notes | Year | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| incoming | acquisition | pronet | 100% Pronet liquidated 3 Jul 1998; customers transferred to Hotkey. |
Jul 1998 | archive |
| outgoing | acquisition | iPrimus | 100% Primus acquired HotKey (60% 1998, 40% 1999. |
1999 | news |
| incoming | acquisition | BlazeNet | 100% BlazeNet folded into Hotkey Internet Services (via parent ISP Ltd. |
c. 2001 | archive |
| incoming | acquisition | AXS Internet Services | 100% AXS customers handed to Hotkey Internet Services (Kew. c. 2002. |
by 2003 | archive wayback-redirect news |
| incoming | acquisition | Netstra | 100% |
by 2 Aug 2002 | archive |
| incoming | acquisition | useoz | dialup base useoz's dialup base acquired by HotKey Internet after NDS administration. |
announced 2 Dec 2002 | archive news archive |
| incoming | acquisition | Geko Internet | 100% Geko Internet acquired by Hotkey Internet Services. |
by 31 May 2003 | archive archive archive |
| incoming | acquisition | GigaNet | 100% GigaNet absorbed by Hotkey Internet. |
by May 2003 | archive |
| incoming | acquisition | Standard.Net | Absorbed by Hotkey Southcoast. | 2003 | archive |
| incoming | acquisition | Dart Global | 100% Dart Global (Direct Data acquired by Hotkey Internet Services. |
Nov 2004 | archive |
| incoming | acquisition | DART Internet | customer base DART Internet entered external administration (PwC, Brisbane ~Nov 2004; its customer base was handed to Hotkey. Distinct from Dart Global (dart.com.au, which Hotkey separately acquired Nov 2004. |
c. Nov 2004 | news |