Last year ActewAGL sold its share of Grapevine to TransACT, which is now the sole owner, a move that upset other internet service providers, who said the arrangement blurred the line between retailing and wholesale activities.

TransACT is on the Australian Government Information Management Office’s ‘‘Ready Now Panel’’ for data centre facilities and was also selected for a whole-of-government mobile services panel this year.

Its presence on these panels, will be attractive for iiNet, which announced in August its 2011 full-year results, including a 48 per cent rise in revenue to $699million, and earnings before interest of $105 million, a 30 per cent increase. Much of that growth came from recent acquisitions.

Acquiring TransACT followed more than 20 acquisitions in recent years. Last year iiNet bought AAPT’s consumer customer base for $60 million.