Basseterre, St. Kitts: 12th February, 2013 – In another move to deliver more value to customers Cable and Wireless Communications, the parent company for LIME, plans to invest an additional US$20 million in network infrastructure across the region. This is expected to further boost data speeds and build out TV product, especially in markets such as Barbados and Cayman.
In addition to pointing to an on-target financial position, the company further explained that as part of shaping the business to focus on the Pan American region, it has accelerated some investments designed to reduce costs and improve services for customers. This includes commencement of a major deployment of fibre in Barbados and Cayman to upgrade the fixed line infrastructure enabling provision of high speed internet and TV services.
The decision to accelerate customer focussed efficiency investments in the Caribbean (excluding Bahamas) will increase the exceptional restructuring costs by around US$20 million to a total of US
$55 million.
These and other initiatives will improve the efficiency and flexibility of the business and drive cost savings in future years which is critical as market conditions in the rest of the Caribbean remain difficult, particularly in the Eastern Caribbean and Barbados.
Other highlights of the release pointed out that: In Jamaica there continues to be an excellent response to the launch of competitive mobile packages which has increased the mobile subscriber base by over 40% compared to the same point last year. The Bahamas is delivering solid progress in its financial performance together with much improved service and product offerings to its customers.
Mobile data revenue grew strongly across the Group during the third quarter driven by increasing smartphone adoption and usage. At 31 December 2012, Group net debt was $1,549 million, a decrease of $39 million since 30 September 2012.