London, 21 September 2006
Cable & Wireless International will today meet with more than 80 key investors and analysts in London to present an overview of its portfolio and insights into its most important businesses.
Harris Jones, CEO, Cable & Wireless International, said: "Cable & Wireless International is a portfolio of exciting growth-oriented assets but until recently they haven't had the profile I believe they deserve. This morning's presentation is all about providing investors and analysts with a better understanding of our International business and bringing them up to date with our strategy, plans and opportunities for the next few years."
Cable & Wireless International has over four million active mobile GSM customers in markets with a range of penetration levels, leaving considerable room for growth. It has 25 mobile markets (including subsidiaries and associates), and is market leader in all but five of them.
The company has seen significant growth in broadband customer numbers over the last couple of years and continues to be market leader in all 27 of its broadband markets. As the only full service provider, Cable & Wireless International also continues to be first choice for customers in all its fixed line markets and has over two million fixed line customers.
Today's presentations will emphasise that the portfolio, while diverse in terms of geography, economy and market maturity, is held together by a number of important common themes, such as the industries it serves (tourism, offshore finance, insurance and gambling) and that it is well positioned for future growth.
Liberalisation is behind us and we are beating the competition
In 2000, Cable & Wireless was the incumbent in most of its markets. Over the last five years, virtually all of these have opened up to competition and now 93% of its revenues come from competitive markets.
Harris Jones said: "In my view, competition has been good for us - it made us sharpen up our act and improve our offering to customers. In addition, the arrival of competition is helping to increase mobile and broadband market penetration, as more customers become aware of the services available. I'm pleased to say that, despite the arrival of competition, we are still the clear market leader in almost all our markets."
There is now very little liberalisation left to come for Cable & Wireless International - a fixed line concession in Macau is up for renewal in 2011, and its concessions in Monaco end in 2023.
There are real opportunities both for our businesses and our customers
There are real opportunities for growth across the portfolio. In the presentations being made today, Harris Jones and his leadership team will share a few highlights, including:
- " In Panama, Cable & Wireless International's single largest business, mobile and broadband penetration is relatively low, and the company is seeing strong growth in customer numbers and good efficiency gains which offset the intense competition and fixed to mobile substitution.
- " In the Caribbean, Cable & Wireless operates in 15 countries including Barbados, the Cayman Islands and Jamaica. This region is very diverse, both in terms of individual market economies and mobile and broadband market penetration. Growth here is coming from rising market penetration, roaming revenues (particularly from tourists) and the success of the company's new mobile e-top up scheme. Cable & Wireless is market leader in all but four of these markets.
- " In Jamaica, Cable & Wireless is regaining market share from its major competitor as its turnaround plan, commenced just under a year ago, begins to bite and its improved customer offering and greater mobile network coverage take effect.
- " At Monaco Telecom, acquired in 2004, the business is developing a fully-converged offering of bundled fixed, mobile, broadband and TV services with single pricing, billing and service delivery. This customer offering is a trailblazer for the rest of Cable & Wireless International's portfolio.
- " Off the coast of the UK, Cable & Wireless has created a cluster of businesses " Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. This began with the purchase of Guernsey in 2002. Guernsey is the foundation platform for all three businesses in the cluster. IT, network and customer services for these businesses are based in Guernsey, with local infrastructure and retail distribution in Jersey and, next year, in the Isle of Man.
- " CTM (the Cable & Wireless business in Macau) is taking advantage of the country's economic boom, as Macau overtakes Las Vegas as the world's biggest gambling centre. Macau is a small island near Hong Kong with a population approaching 500,000 - but with 21 million visitors a year, primarily from mainland China. As the market leader in Macau, CTM is benefiting from this boom, servicing the hotels and casinos with mobile, broadband, fixed line and data services.
~~Adz:Right~~Selective acquisitions will add value
Over the last few years, Cable & Wireless has made only a couple of acquisitions, but it is now looking more actively and has recently made an offer for KeyTech Ltd in Bermuda.
Harris Jones said: "Inorganic growth is an important and exciting part of our strategy. However, we have a rigorous set of acquisition criteria and the nature of the markets we are interested in means that acquisitions may take time to come to fruition."
Cable & Wireless is interested in acquisitions in small to medium-sized markets where there is a population of less than seven million. It is looking to acquire full service businesses where there is the potential for Cable & Wireless to bring global benefit to the market and its customers in terms of value, products and technology. Management control of the acquired business is essential.
A final word
Harris Jones concluded: "We believe that Cable & Wireless International has a number of opportunities that will bring benefits to our businesses, our employees and our customers. It is our intention to grow the business, both organically and inorganically, and our clear ambition is to be the first choice for customers in every market. We are now well placed, not just to meet the competition in our markets, but also to beat it." |
