Innovative Communication takes control of Belize Telecoms
Saturday, April 3, 2004
WEST PALM BEACH, USA: Innovative
Communication Corporation LLC (ICC) took management control Friday of Belize
Telecommunications Ltd. (BTL) from Lord Michael Ashcroft and Carlisle Holdings
Ltd., as announced by Jeffrey J. Prosser, ICC's chairman and CEO.
Innovative's purchase price of 100 per cent
of the stock is more than US US$105 million, making it the largest business
transaction in the country's history and now the largest privately owned
telephone company in the US.
Last week Innovative concluded an agreement
with the Government of Belize transferring ownership of BTL to ICC. "We are
very optimistic about the future of Belize," observed Prosser. "Belize
Telecommunications will be a significant contributor to the economic
development of Belize and between the two are poised to have an industrious
future together."
Prosser made clear that ICC is committed to
investing further in the country's infrastructure with fibre, broadband
services and the latest telecommunications technology for residential and
business customers.
"We will work closely with Prime Minister
Said Musa," explained Prosser, "and the Belizean government to assess new
growth areas and prioritise where infrastructure is needed." ICC is the first
telephone company ever to bundle its local, long-distance, wireless cable TV
and broadband (DSL) services.
At the moment, BTL has nearly 50,000 access
land lines, serves 52,000 cellular subscribers and more than 10,000 Internet
customers. In addition, the company has 491 employees in 17 branch offices
throughout the Central American-Caribbean basin.
ICC has an enviable position in the market
and an unlimited potential for expansion, since the company plays a pivotal
role in providing high-speed access to companies around the world, as the key
termination point for submarine fibre systems that connect mainland US with
Europe and South America.
Addressing the matter of employees, Prosser
explained that, " the current Carlisle management is no longer in place. We
will assess the Belizeans in the company and build a management team of
Belizean nationals."
Innovative Communication Corporation (www.iccvi.com)
has offices in West Palm Beach, Florida, and is headquartered in St. Croix,
USVI ICC owns considerable telecommunications and media operations in the US
and British Virgin Islands, Sint-Maarten, Saint-Martin, Guadeloupe, Martinique
and France in addition to the Pulitzer prize-winning Virgin Islands Daily News
and TV-2, a cable-cast station. It is the second largest private employer in
the USVI and the largest privately owned telephone company in the US.
Back...
Most popular
articles: viewed, printed and e-mailed
Printable
version
| 
