Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. (MTS) and U.S.-based Zayo Group Holdings Inc. announced today that the sale of Allstream Inc. is close to completion.

It was reported this past November that Winnipeg-based MTS would offload its Allstream IP communications business to the Boulder, Colo.-based communications infrastructure group for $465 million in cash, marking the first time a foreign firm would completely own a Canadian telecom service since the government relaxed foreign ownership rules in 2012.

Zayo provides communications infrastructure services, including fibre and bandwidth connectivity, colocation and cloud services to business customers; the company has stated that Allstream’s fibre network — more than 20,000 kilometers of fibre connecting all major Canadian markets and 10 U.S. network access points — represents one of the main reasons for the acquisition.

Both MTS and Zayo are currently in the process of “closing the transaction expeditiously,” the companies said Monday.