[citation needed] The same year, Primus obtained a long-distance carrier license in the then-newly deregulated United Kingdom[2] and also released their initial public offering.

That same year, Primus received international carrier status from Canada's Radio and Telephone Commission[12] and signed a significant deal with Qwest for fiber and increased bandwidth capacity for their U.S points of presence.

[17][18] A long-distance telephone company based in Fairfield, Iowa with 350,000 customers around the world, Telegroup was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy before Primus purchased their assets for $72 million.

[22] These developments and Primus' investment in pan-European fiber optic systems such as their Atlantic Crossing 1, Aphrodite Aphrodite, Arianne, CANTAT, Gemini and TAT12/13 meant Primus at the time offered services to 25 major cities located in 11 countries, including Austria, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

They purchased a 51% controlling stake in Brazil's fifth largest Internet Service Provider, Matrix Internet S.A to gain access to the Brazilian market;[24] they also acquired DSL provider DigitalSelect LLC[25] to improve their residential broadband capabilities and firm 1492 Technologies[26] to add e-commerce and web services capabilities to the organization.

[27] Later that year they were recognized by Deloitte & Touche as the fastest growing technology company according to their Fast 500 ranking, an award subsequently won by eBay in 2001 and Google in 2004.

[28][29][30] Primus continued their network expansion by furthering their relationship with Qwest, they signed an agreement to purchase capacity for their nationwide fiber optic cable ring and connecting routes.

[41] These acquisitions also coincided with Primus entering the Puerto Rico market by partnering with Virtual Inc. and receiving a Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) license.

[43] This pre-emptive measure allowed Primus to avoid bankruptcy at the time and continue to remain profitable and record full-year earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of $101 million in 2002.

[53] Towards the end of 2004, Primus' stock fell 69% and continued to fall in 2005 as their core revenue streams of long-distance telephone service, dial-up Internet connections and prepaid calling began shrinking.

[54] To remedy this trend Primus announced they would be shifting their focus from their long-distance voice heritage to become a fully integrated service provider--capable of delivering and bundling high-growth telecommunication services, including local, wireless, and broadband...with the capability of offering arrays of bundled wireline/wireless/broadband/VOIP products in its major markets.

Designed to leverage Primus international data network to provide a cost-effective retail voice service, Lingo offered U.S. customers unlimited calling in the U.S., Canada and Western Europe for only $19.95 per month.

The value recovered by shareholders of old common stock (ticker NASDAQ:PRTL) will depend on the company's financial performance over the four years following their emergence from Chapter 11.

[67] The newly emerged public company was not listed on any stock exchange until June 23, 2011, when it began trading under the ticker PTGI on the NYSE.

[68][69] As of March 4, 2010, Primus appeared on the recovery track as they reported 2009 net revenue of US$814 million and free cash flow of $27.9 million; revenue increases they claim are partly the result of sales of IP-PBX, data hosting, and other managed services to small and medium enterprises...[70][71] On November 11, 2010, Primus announced the acquisition of Arbinet Corporation.

[87] Seven Azteca América affiliates, including San Francisco market station KEMO-TV, were purchased from Jericho Partners LLC for $411,318 the following month.

[101] Also in September, a multi-station deal in Puerto Rico was announced with HC2 buying WOST, WQQZ-CD and WWKQ-LD from Corporate Media Consultants Group LLC for $2.85 million.

[106][107][108] WSCG and WSPF would later be sold to TCT, while WBEH would later be acquired by the Word of God Fellowship, parent of the Daystar Television Network.

Prior to the announcement, INNOVATE had been selling most of the full-power stations operated by Azteca América, and began notifying affiliates and advertising partners of the network’s planned closure.