C&WJ strong mobile growth continues
Jamaica, mobile subscribers grew by 125,000 during the April to September period, according to CWC Communications, the parent company for Cable & Wireless Jamaica.
At the end of March, Cable & Wireless Jamaica (CWJ) stated that they had 705,000 mobile customers. The increase since March, puts active mobile customers at roughly 830,000, by the end of September. At the end of June this year, Mobile subscriber base increased by 37 percent with revenue increasing by 34 percent, broadband base increased by 12 percent with revenue up 39 percent. The continued strong growth in mobile customers is resulting in increased revenues for the local company, moving them closer to a break-even point.
CWC Communications in their release of their September quarter’s report that “in our LIME Caribbean businesses, mobile revenue grew 6 percent on a reported basis and 8 percent at constant currency, with Jamaica up 24 percent and continuing to gain market share (5 ppts) as we invest to deliver improved services for our growing customer base. In Jamaica mobile traffic increased by 34 percent and mobile service revenue is up 38 percent at constant currency.”
The stock which traded as low as 25 cents on Wednesday traded 7,481,913 units between 28 cents and 32 cents by Mid day. The change in demand is most likely tied to the news that CWC acquired the Flow operations, which will be seen to have positive implications for CWJ going forward.
CWJ has been BUY RATED by IC Insider from early this year on strong mobile growth and reduced cost.
Cable & Wireless Plc acquires Flow
Cable & Wireless Communications Plc (“CWC”) today announces that it has agreed terms to purchase 100 percent of the equity of Columbus International, a privately-owned fibre based telecommunications and technology services provider operating in the Caribbean, Central America and the Andean region, for USD1.85 billion.
“The move will significantly enhance CWC’s growth profile and accelerate the progress towards each of its strategic goals unveiled in May. CWC also announced the placing of new shares constituting approximately 9.99 percent of CWC’s outstanding share capital which will be used to finance in part the proposed acquisition. The Enlarged Group is expected to generate significant operating cost and capital expenditure synergies, with additional revenue benefits also available. The transaction will be earnings neutral in the first full year post-completion and materially earnings enhancing in subsequent years” CWC directors stated in their release.
Columbus is a privately-owned diversified telecommunications and technology services company, based in Barbados, with approximately 700,000 residential customers in the Caribbean, Central America and the Andean region. In the Caribbean, it is one of the leading providers of triple-play cable TV and broadband enabled services over its proprietary fibre optic network infrastructure. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Columbus Networks, Columbus provides backhaul connectivity to 42 countries in the region, as well as capacity and IT services, corporate data solutions and data centre services throughout the Caribbean, Central America and the Andean region. Columbus also provides next generation connectivity and IT solutions, managed networking and cloud-based services under the brand Columbus Business Solutions.
For the year ended 31 December 2013, Columbus had revenue of USD505m with EBITDA of USD216m and total operating profit of USD104m. For the six months ended June 2014, Columbus had revenue of USD284m with EBITDA of USD118m and total operating profit of USD48 million.
CWJ revenues rise 37% push CWC Plc
Cable & Wireless Jamaica grew mobile customers with continued momentum from last year, by 37 percent, Cable & Wireless Communications PLC (CWC) said in a press release, in their first quarter interim management statement for the June 2014 quarter.
The Jamaican growth, pushed the mobile customers in Jamaica to around 750,000 at June, up from 705,000 at March this year and helped to move mobile subscribers was up 20 percent, for the overall CWC group on like-for-like basis, the statement indicated. “LIME growth was driven by continued strong subscriber additions in Jamaica, where revenue grew 34 percent at constant currency”. For the June 2013 quarter, the Jamaican operations saw growth of 22 percent in mobile customers and 10 percent increase in revenue. The growth last year came at a jump of 64 percent in subscriber acquisition cost, the company said last year after the completion of the June quarter.
Group Trading Performance| CWC said that mobile revenue which now represents 55 percent of Group revenue, was up 4 percent across the Group in the First Quarter, with increases in Cayman of 11 percent, following the successful introduction of LTE services; and in Panama 5 percent, where increased advertising drove mobile data 21 percent. Panama also achieved mobile ARPU growth for the first time in five quarters following increased focus on pricing.
Broadband and TV revenue, hampered by slower network speeds, grew only 3 percent and this is a key area where we expect to see improved performance over time as a result of the investments we are making under Project Marlin. The modest growth in Broadband and TV was more than offset by continued decline in fixed voice revenue.
Revenue in the B2B/B2G business – Managed Services – was impacted by reduced Government activity in Panama ahead of elections in May, but CWC management say they remain confident that the new management team and organisational focus will come to fruition later in the year. BTC in the Bahamas delivered solid financial performance alongside improved network reliability during the quarter.
Upgrade| CWCP said “we have upgraded 126 of our mobile sites in Jamaica since 1 April 2014 and expect to complete our 4G network later this year. The fibre build-out in Cayman is complete with over 11,000 homes passed. In Barbados we have now passed 26,000 homes with high-speed fibre. In Panama we successfully launched Direct-to-Home TV and ‘Movil Cash’ products, and, although it is early in the programme, we are exceeding our sales expectations”.