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Cable & Wireless to buy Columbus International for $3B

Cable and Wireless CEO Phil Bentley

Cable and Wireless CEO Phil Bentley

Cable and Wireless Communications PLC announced Thursday it has reached a conditional agreement to acquire Columbus International Inc. The proposed acquisition, valued at $3.025 billion, will enable the combined company to significantly accelerate their growth strategy, improve service delivery to customers in the region, offer customers a comprehensive portfolio of high-quality products and services, and strengthen their position against larger competitors, company officials said.

The increased scale and capabilities of the combined company will provide the technical platform and financial capacity to help enable CWC to drive greater innovation and expand our geographic footprint, officials further noted.

“This is a transaction that transforms [Cable and Wireless], providing a step-change in growth and returns. Columbus offers complementary TV, Broadband and B2B capabilities in complementary markets,” said company CEO Phil Bentley.

“Together, we will create the best-in-class quad-play offering in the region, delivered on a superior mobile, fiber and subsea network. This is a significant opportunity to better serve our customers and improve the ICT infrastructure of the communities in which we operate, whilst accelerating our strategy and delivering materially enhanced returns and synergy benefits,” he said.

The combination of the two companies is consistent with global industry trends, where convergence of fixed and mobile networks, increasing content consumption growth, and continuing development of online applications are driving requirements for high bandwidth, fixed line networks and TV capabilities.

Operators in Europe and North America, as well as regional competitors, are acquiring and constructing networks that are capable of supporting ever-growing data needs along with new video capabilities.

For both companies, the proposed acquisition also enables greater focus on the Caribbean, Andean and Latin American markets as a region that offers “attractive growth.”

The proposed acquisition will provide new opportunities and focus in Colombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Peru.

“Our goal is to provide customer-focused solutions and the highest level of service across the region. This agreement will accelerate our efforts through a strengthened set of assets and capabilities,” Bentley affirmed.

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This story was written by our staff based on a press release.
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