Telecom acquisition
The United Kingdom-based telecom giant Cable & Wireless is poised to expand its business within the region, company officials said last week.
The firm will pay more than $3 billion for the assets of Columbus International, a Barbados-based cable television and Internet provider that operates across the Caribbean and Latin America. The purchase allows Cable & Wireless, the parent company of the Virgin Islands branch of LIME, to increase its product offerings, according to a press release. This will mean faster broadband speeds for customers and improved television options for customers, the company added. The acquisition comes as Cable & Wireless is acting on plans to invest more than $190 million on Caribbean infrastructural projects this year, including $7 million in the VI, to replace aging copper networks with fibre optics. According to a Cable & Wireless annual report issued Nov. 6, the company has returned to profitability this year after losing money in 2013. For the first six months of 2014, the company made a net profit of $103 million, a rebound from an $8 million loss for the same period in 2013.
New equipment
Several pieces of road construction equipment, including an asphalt plant, that were purchased by the Ministry of Communications and Works this year have arrived on island, officials said. The MCW is now in possession of a new 60-tonne asphalt mixing plant, paver and distribution trailer; a 10-tonne roller; a cold-milling machine; and two skid steer loaders, government announced. The equipment was purchased in June from the Chinese company Wudan Kudat Industry and Trade at a cost of $933,950, according to government’s contract with the firm.
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