FOR the time being it will be business as usual in Barbados following the acquisition of Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC) PLC by Liberty Global PLC.
Mike Fries, CEO of Liberty Global, made the comment to the media yesterday as he teamed up with John Reid, interim CEO of CWC, to give an update on the acquisition. Reid replaced Phil Bentley, outgoing CEO of CWC.
“We have to give ourselves sufficient time to get better acquainted with the market and to make sure we have our strategies to grow,” Fries remarked.
“For the time being, for months now we are not going to see much meaningful changes in Barbados, but it will be business as usual for employment, for infrastructure, and for investment,” he declared.
He promised that they will be looking at each market independently to try to figure out what would be the appropriate technology solution for this market.
Fries stated that every market in the region is different. He termed Barbados as a very unique market, and that they want to ensure that the investments being proposed are perfect for the particular environment.
Reid stated that since the acquisition of Columbus Communications (FLOW) by CWC more than a year ago, they have been busy migrating customers.
“We have launched new products, Internet to the home,” he added.
The CWC business will be attributed to Liberty Global’s Latin America and Caribbean Group (the LILAC Group), which trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market.
“The combination of CWC and the LILAC Group creates the leading business-to-business communications provider in the region,” Fries said.
He noted that these operations will serve 10 million video, voice, broadband and mobile subscriptions in more than 20 countries, are expected to generate over $7.0 billion of revenue on an annualised basis, and will become the leading platform for further consolidation in Latin America and the Caribbean. (JB)