LONDON — European business strategy and communications consultancy BoldT has been hired to handle international corporate communications for new telecoms giant EXA Infrastructure.

EXA is a new “long-haul” telecoms company, formed last week by private equity firm I Squared Capital completing a deal worth $2.15 billion to buy the network infrastructure unit of GTT Communications. GTT is a US-based telecoms firm that had bought up several long-haul network operators around Europe and merged them. EXA is now Europe’s biggest firm of its kind.

Long-haul telecoms companies own and operate fibre optics networks across countries and continents, interconnecting data traffic for the likes of BT, Vodafone and France Telecom, carrying data for businesses such as banks that need a private network, for social media platforms and for video streaming companies. EXA now provides the backbone of much of Europe’s internet traffic, and takes it to and from the US via undersea cables.

BoldT was hired after a competitive pitch to manage corporate advisory work around the acquisition preparation, and will handle ongoing corporate, policy and communications work.

Steve Earl, one of the agency’s partners in London, who joined BoldT last year, told PRovoke Media: “The underlying infrastructure that carries the world’s data is now so critical and under such demand that private equity is taking hold by carving out networks as separate businesses. Our focus will be on bringing the story of the new business to life, explaining what it does for customers and differentiating it from competitors.”