Strong growth new mobile subscribers at Cable & Wireless Jamaica, continues to September, according to the latest quarterly report released earlier today by the United Kingdom listed CWC communication PLC (CWC), putting the number of mobile customers around 890,000. “In our biggest region, the Caribbean, our Jamaica business, continued to attract new mobile subscribers (up 161,000 or 22 percent) and gain market share, where our market share of 31 percent has grown by 5 percentage points in the last 12 months leading to 10 percent revenue growth (14 percent at constant currency) and 45 percent growth in EBITDA. Across the Caribbean, Project Marlin investments in 2014/15 helped drive a US$15 million or 10 percent increase in mobile revenue with HSPA+ speeds now provided across the region, and a US$9 million or 9 percent rise in broadband revenue as we grew our subscriber base. Total Caribbean reported revenue grew 6 percent year over year, with EBITDA rising 22 percent. As integration momentum builds, an even stronger second half is expected”, the CWC report stated.
The report went on to state, “In the first half of the current fiscal year, our total number of network sites grew by 10 percent and our mobile networks carried 93 percent more data traffic, with Jamaica data traffic up 241 percent, BTC up 137 percent, Panama up 81 percent and Barbados 73 percent higher.”
In the Caribbean, the company said “we completed Phase 1 of our broadband expansion in Jamaica passing 800 homes in Portland with Phase 2 underway and set to pass an additional 7,300 homes taking our total homes passed to 276,000. We also began installation of a new backbone to upgrade core capacity to multiple 100Gbps links. In Trinidad, we passed an additional 4,800 homes with HFC, taking our total homes passed to 311,000 in Trinidad and we passed an additional 19,000 homes with FTTH in Barbados taking our coverage to over 100,000 homes passed. In the Bahamas, we have completed the design phase of our plans to pass 14,200 homes.”