Providenciales, 01 Apr 2015 – The telecommunications competition is heating up, not just locally… but regionally as Cable and Wireless today revealed to the Turks and Caicos that it now owns 100% of Columbus International Inc which equates to around 720,000 customers in 42 countries and a fibre optic network linking nearly all of the Americas. This is a massive buy out, and it was approved just days ago and already Columbus International Inc, with its subsidiary, Columbus Networks has closed its operations in headquarter Barbados.
The report is grabbing international headlines and CEO of C&W, Phil Bentley, who visited the Turks and Caicos last year explained in a media statement that: “Most of the markets we operate in have approved our integration plans and therefore today we can start to release some of the $1.5bn investment monies we have set aside to provide our customers with an unrivalled telecommunications experience, improving coverage, reliability, products and speeds, and providing a welcome boost to both jobs and the economy in the countries in which we operate.” While Marketwired is reporting that the value of the acquisition is over $3 billion dollars, Cable and Wireless Plc explains it has spent $1.85 billion dollars on the deal. They call it ‘transformational’.
Bentley noted that as part of the integration process, the Company “is undertaking a full review of all the brands we currently operate under, including the Flow and LIME….” In a statement, Columbus explains: Similarly, the combination of the two businesses supports CWC’s new strategy and its four primary areas of focus: Drive Mobile Leadership; Accelerate Fixed-Mobile Convergence; Reinforce TV Offer; and Grow Business to Business and Business to Government sectors.
