Flow parent acquires Eastern Caribbean telecom

Columbus International says it has agreed to acquire Kelcom International Ltd, an Eastern Caribbean telecommunications provider that operates under the name Karib Cable.

Karib Cable is the leading cable system operator in St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Antigua. The company also holds a host of telecom licences in Barbados where it is in the early stages of network deployment. Kelcom’s fibre-deep HFC cable systems pass approximately 110,000 homes and serve close to 60,000 customers offering cable television, high-speed Internet and telephony services.

Columbus International, which operates in Jamaica as Flow, did not disclose a purchase price. It is the fifth significant transaction and third acquisition entered into or completed by the firm in the last 12 months.

Upon completion of this transaction, the company said its retail operations will span eight countries across the region, pass more than 750,000 households and businesses and serve in excess of 500,000 retail customers, further strengthening its position as the leading triple-play service provider in the Caribbean.

“The acquisition of Kelcom marks another important milestone for Columbus as we expand our service footprint to deliver our brand of services across the Caribbean region,” said Brendan Paddick, chairman and chief executive officer of Columbus.

“We believe that this is an exciting opportunity to build upon Kelcom’s past successes to offer a truly world-class suite of services and technologies to the people and businesses of St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Antigua. We look forward to welcoming Kelcom, its customers and its approximately 250 talented professionals into the Columbus family,” he added.

Columbus in September 2012 completed the acquisition of TeleBarbados and TeleSt Lucia, buying out its direct competitors in the eastern Caribbean islands. Based in Barbados, the telecoms company already operates in Trinidad, Jamaica, Grenada, and Curacao and provides digital cable television, broadband Internet, digital landline telephony.

Observer