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Liberty Global

A CONVERSATION WITH PAUL SCOTT OF C&W NETWORKS

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Capacity talks with president of C&W Networks Paul Scott on the presence of OTTs in the subsea cable market, the death of the cable landing station and the company roadmap for 2018.

2017 was an exciting year for C&W Networks. While on the one hand it has won numerous awards for its performance and innovation in the pan-Caribbean region, it was also affected by the hurricanes that hit the area as well as the changes to the landscape of the wholesale telecoms sector. Capacity spoke to Paul Scott, president of C&W Networks on some of the biggest developments over the last 12 months and where, in his opinion, the industry is going.

Back in August 2017, C&W announced the success of its pre-5G trials in Antigua. While the current phase of testing reaches speeds of 800Mbps, the second phase of the trial will use a 5G prototype to reach between 2 and 5 Gbps in speeds. Once deployed Antigua will become the first country in the Caribbean on this advanced pre-5G network.

“That was a successful trial we were delighted to conduct in Antigua, one of the many islands we’re proud to serve,” says Scott. “The trial was performed in conjunction with our technology partner Ericsson and further reinforces our commitment to the region. We’re continually looking at how we can improve our service capability to the consumers who buy our services. Our willingness to invest in next-gen technology whether fixed line, wireless and subsea, is illustrative of our commitment to advancing the region.

In the aftermath of the 2017 storms that swept across the US and Caribbean, C&W Networks was one of the first telcos to launch relief efforts and offer financial aid to those in the region through is Cable & Wireless Charitable Foundation. But why were they so quick to act?

“Well it’s a 154 year history (give or take) in the region and we feel we have a real sense of duty and purpose to serve and advance the region,” explains Scott.

“Our subsea network was not impacted, services remained up during the storm but we, like many did suffer damage where we had exposed aerial terrestrial networks. In Dominica, BVI, Anguilla, Turks & Caicos and certainly our brethren in Puerto Rico (Liberty Cable Puerto Rico, part of the Liberty Latam group assets) were hit very hard. So across those impacted islands we feel a sense of duty.”

Though he’s quick to add that charity is not something reactionary for C&W, explaining: “We’ve had charitable organisations on these islands way before the hurricanes hit, this brought it onto another level though our new foundation we established, Cable & Wireless Charitable Foundation. We’re really proud and pleased with what we’ve achieved with this foundation, we’ve raised a million dollars and climbing. And most importantly our partners stepped up in a time of need. So employees, myself, technology partners, the entire company, we all contributed. The foundation will long survive this post hurricane, as will the “on island” foundations.”

With the increasing investment in internet connectivity, much of the conversation stays within the central western geographical area but how does that region differ in terms of data needs to that of emerging markets?

“The driver of international subsea capacity is with people and organizations increasingly subscribing to high and higher speed local broadband services,” clarifies Scott.

“In mobile data packages or fixed line broadband, Western Europe and North America are fairly well developed, although still growing on an annualized basis. But in these emerging markets we still have some step change in growth going on as old copper networks convert to more advanced technologies like fibre-to-the-home. That’s a step change event in how much broadband capacity can be offered, purchased and powered by the subsea networks,” says Scott.

“So I think the onward growth in the years ahead, as these mobile and fixed networks serving our region/footprint further develop, we’re going to see continued year-on-year demand for subsea capacity. We believe we’ve made the investments in network architecture capability to serve the region for the long term. With ongoing advancements in optronics and continued further investments in network, we feel that we have enormous run way and head room to meet that demand.”

During the inaugural Subsea Connect Americas conference Scott sat on a panel discussing the opportunities of the subsea cable industry where he commented that carriers wouldn’t be ploughing capital into legacy systems if they didn’t think it still had life in them. Adding: “I just don’t see those systems going out of service anytime soon.”

Questioning him on his comments he elaborated on exactly what he meant and the difference in types of legacy cables.

“Well firstly there’s mid-nineties vintage, which generally aren’t used anywhere near as much as systems from 1997 onwards. We are a very small consortium owner of those mid-nineties systems, but from 2000 on, we’ve added a variety of new systems 2005, 2007, 2009, 2015 which clearly can hardly be considered old systems. So if you look at the overall composite group of our assets, those really old ones are probably seeing less investment and are probably at a higher risk of being retired. But we are absolutely investing in those systems from 1997 onwards, and in point of fact, we there is growing support to further extend the life of these systems for ten more years, thus extending its original life of 25 years to 35 years.”

“Given that the systems are still perfectly fine and able to support the region’s growth. Advancements in optronics are enabling untold additional throughput on those networks. Smart operators like AT&T for example would say why wouldn’t we continue to utilise that sunk cost, that still works perfectly fine and still has plenty of life left in it. That’s not to say we wouldn’t look to invest in new systems, there’s just plenty of headroom in existing ones,” adds Scott.

With the announcement of the Facebook and Amazon consortium led Jupiter cable, we asked Scott his thoughts on the increase of OTT (over the top) investing the subsea cable market and the effect is has had on the industry.

“Certainly on a global stage it is impacting it, particularly with the intensification of their participation in and investment in subsea cables is remarkable. To date they’re following more of the traditional engineering profile of the subsea cable. I’d wait for the day they’d bring that DNA of theirs which is of a disruptive nature, challenging why this way – why not that way? I don’t believe we’ve seen the impact of that yet. We certainly haven’t seen OTT’s invest on the Caribbean with subsea cable yet,” says Scott.

“Do I think globally it’s a good thing? Yes. It’s driving new high capacity global networks traversing the planet,” he adds

But as with other investment in connectivity the majority of the interest from OTT is in developed markets instead of emerging ones. Will they eventually get there and why haven’t they already?

“I think quite simply the eyeballs on other continents and other parts of the world are so huge that first they are preoccupied with that. Notwithstanding the fact that there’s several hundred million people in the Americas region, but I think we’ll have to wait and see,” says a hopeful Scott.

Another big discussion that was at the forefront of the conference was cable projects forgoing the cable landing station and connecting directly into the data centre. To read the full feature please click here.

Scott however, see it only as a good thing depending on your options.

“I think in developed countries, there’s a greater density of data centres, to even consider that but let’s face it in some of the emerging markets there’s not an abundance of ready to go data centres sitting in an appropriate location suitable to land a cable in,” he explains. “In fact to the contrary, so I don’t think it’s either or, it’s what does the landscape look like at a given country and what can I avail myself of if there’s a hardened world class data centre that’s not too far from the beach, that could be interesting.”

Though the majority of this time in his region, Scott says a modest cable landing station is the way to go.

“But more often than not I think, one has to look at purpose built cable landing stations or terminal point that might just be a modest facility that’s carrier grade, bullet proof but then seamlessly connects onto that data centre which might then hub a bunch of activity. So the day to day activity in that modest but hardened cable landing station, is low intensity, low foot traffic but might be high foot traffic, high cross connect, high bi-lateral commerce taking place over here and it seamlessly gets onto the onramp and goes where it needs to go.”

“I think combinations of that is the reality and practicality that’s there’s not a bunch of data centres to pick and choose from in emerging markets in the areas we play in.  We have a bunch of data centres of our own, which are multi use facilities it just all depends,” answers Scott.

As we enter into 2018, Scott is firmly at the helm of C&W ship, doubling down on the successes it has achieved over the last year and its eyes set on growth.

“Well we’re particularly proud of the fact that we’ve won five consecutive best carrier awards. We just one the most innovative MEF service award, I think that peer industry recognition speaks volumes about our commitment to the region, to not sit back, and not sit idle but continually push the envelope on how to be better, and deliver more value added service and figure out how to better serve the region from the citizens to the global carriers who need to move data around the region,” boasts Scott.

“That is in our DNA – to continuously push the envelope, do better, and provide more. We don’t always get it right but I think we can say with great pride that we’re always looking forward we don’t sit idle. We often look about where we can extend the network, it’s ongoing.

News recently broke that C&W has been spun off into Liberty Global’s Latin America division, called Liberty Latin America. Speaking exclusively to Capacity on the announcement, Scott is keen to reassure us that its business as usual for C&W: “Liberty Global’s split-off of its Latin America operations known as LiLAC into a new independent operation called Liberty Latin America will not affect the operations of Cable & Wireless Communications (C&W).”

Adding that the new division will create a number of benefits for the company and its customers.

“The split-off will allow the new company to have access to the capital and resources necessary to achieve superior financial and strategic growth,” explained Scott. “Also, it will be able to bring more world-class technology, innovation and scale to the operations, expand network coverage, and deploy exciting new service offerings to residential and business customers across the region.”

As we look to the future, Scott seems optimistic about the change and says that his plan for the company as part of this new entity is to leverage new technologies and continue to scale the company.

“Latin America has a huge potential for broadband, connectivity and services which are underpenetrated,” continued Scott. “The new company expects to take advantage of organic and inorganic opportunities for growth across the region. So what’s the plan? The plan is growth.”

CABLE & WIRELESS ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENT OF NEW CEO, INGE SMIDTS

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• Smidts, currently Chief Marketing Officer for Liberty Global, to join C&W in February 2018.

 

MIAMI, FL – December 20, 2017 Cable & Wireless Communications (C&W) today announced the appointment of Inge Smidts as Chief Executive Officer. She is replacing John Reid who announced earlier this month that he will step down from the position of CEO in early 2018. Smidts joins C&W from Liberty Global where she most recently held the position of Chief Marketing Officer.

Prior to her role at Liberty Global, Smidts was Senior Vice President – Residential Marketing and a member of the Executive Team at Telenet Group. While there, she was responsible for Go-to-Market reporting and overseeing the commercial strategy for Telenet’s business.

Smidts has significant brand and marketing experience having spent over ten years earlier in her career at Procter & Gamble, where she started as Assistant Brand Manager and was regularly promoted, ultimately to Business Leader for the Benelux Paper business. Smidts holds a Master of Economics degree from UFSIA in Antwerp and an MBA in Marketing from the IAE in Aix-en-Provence.

Balan Nair, incoming President & CEO of Liberty Latin America said, “Inge is a proven executive that has delivered strong results throughout her career. We are excited that she has agreed to lead C&W and join the Liberty Latin America team next year once the split from Liberty Global is complete. I also want to thank John Reid for his many contributions to the company and facilitating a smooth transition.”

“Inge is a dynamic leader who has successfully driven financial performance and built capable teams,” said Betzalel Kenigsztein, Liberty Latin America’s Chief Operating Officer. “As we look to the future for C&W, we are confident that Inge is the right leader to help rebuild operations that were damaged by this year’s hurricanes and deliver growth for all our stakeholders.”

Smidts commented, “I am excited to take on the role of CEO at C&W and work with the new management team that will lead Liberty Latin America into the future. The prospects for C&W are bright and I look forward to leveraging my experiences at Liberty Global and Telenet to bring a commercial, marketing and customer-focus that will help deliver results.”

John Reid, C&W’s current CEO, will help ensure a seamless leadership transition until Smidts’ tenure begins in February 2018. Under the new Liberty Latin America management structure effective upon completion of the split-off from Liberty Global, Smidts will report to Betzalel Kenigsztein, Liberty Latin America’s COO.

About C&W Communications

C&W is a full-service communications and entertainment provider that delivers market-leading video, broadband, telephony and mobile services to consumers in 18 countries. Through its business division, C&W provides data center hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customized IT service solutions, utilizing cloud technology to serve business and government customers.

C&W also operates a state-of-the-art submarine fiber network – the most extensive in the region.
Learn more at www.cwc.com, or follow C&W on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.

About Liberty Global

Liberty Global is the world’s largest international TV and broadband company, with operations in more than 30 countries across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. We invest in the infrastructure that empowers our customers to make the most of the digital revolution. Our scale and commitment to innovation enable us to develop market-leading products delivered through next-generation networks that connect our over 24 million customers who subscribe to over 50 million television, broadband internet and telephony services. We also serve over 10 million mobile subscribers and offer WiFi service across 10 million access points.

Liberty Global’s businesses are comprised of two stocks: the Liberty Global Group (NASDAQ: LBTYA, LBTYB and LBTYK) for our European operations, and the LiLAC Group (NASDAQ: LILA and LILAK, OTC Link: LILAB), which consists of our operations in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Liberty Global Group operates in 12 European countries under the consumer brands Virgin Media, Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC. The Liberty Global Group also owns 50% of VodafoneZiggo, a Dutch joint venture, which has 4 million customers, 10 million fixed-line subscribers and 5 million mobile subscribers. The LiLAC Group operates in over 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Más Móvil and BTC. In addition, the LiLAC Group operates a sub-sea fiber network throughout the region in over 40 markets.

For more information, please visit www.libertyglobal.com.

C&W Communications
Investor Relations:
Kunal Patel
+1 (786) 376 9294

Media Relations:
Claudia Restrepo
+1 (786) 218 0407

C&W NETWORKS WINS BEST NETWORK AND SERVICE INNOVATION IN THE CARIBBEAN AND LATIN AMERICA

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MIAMI, FL – December 5, 2017 – In another round of recognition for best infrastructure and customer service excellence, C&W Networks once again emerged with top billing, this time winning the award for Best Network and Service Innovation in the Caribbean and Latin America (CALA) Region. The latest recognition came at the annual MEF Excellence Awards 2017 in Orlando, Florida on November 14.  The accolade comes on the heels of its recent award for Best Latin America Wholesale Carrier at the 13th Global Carrier Awards held in London in October.

This latest award recognizes C&W Networks, a division of C&W Communications (C&W) and a Liberty Global company, for its leadership in the development and delivery of global, regional, retail and wholesale services as well as excellence in network and service innovation, strategy and marketing. C&W Networks was chosen by a judging panel comprised of 14 global and regional senior analysts from ACG Research, ATLANTIC-ACM, Battle Green Research, Frost & Sullivan, Global Data, IHS Markit, Metanoia, Ovum, and Vertical Systems, in addition to independent judges.  This is the second year in a row the Company has won this award.

“We are honored to continue to be recognized for our industry leadership in service innovation in the Caribbean and Latin America region. This award is a result of continued investment in our network and people that ensures the continued excellence of both our customer service and infrastructure. We are committed to pushing the boundaries of providing unmatched service on the best network in the region so that our customers can continue to succeed,” said Paul Scott, President of C&W Latam and Wholesale.

MEF is an industry association of more than 210 member companies and manages the world’s largest awards program that is focused on emerging dynamic network services powered by Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO), Software-Defined Networking (SDN), Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Carrier Ethernet.

“We continue to see amazing service and technology innovations year-over-year in the MEF Awards program, and are thrilled to witness the advances being made to accelerate development and delivery of agile, assured, and orchestrated services,” said Nan Chen, President, MEF. “We are pleased to congratulate the 2017 Award Winners, and look forward to seeing more innovation from them as we move into 2018.”

For more information on the MEF Awards 2017 please visit:
http://www.mef.net/2017_MEF_Awards

Caption: (left to right) C&W Networks, Javier Pereira, VP Customer Solutions, and Daniel Herrera, IP Services Manager, November 14, 2017, Orlando, Florida.

About C&W Networks

C&W Networks is a wholly owned subsidiary of C&W Communications and a wholesale telecommunications service provider that offers broadband, IP capacity and a growing portfolio of managed services and integrated solutions to global, regional and local telecom carriers, TV cable companies, Internet Service Providers and Network Integrators. C&W Networks operates the largest state-of-the-art subsea multi-ring fibre-optic network throughout the greater Caribbean, Central American and Andean region along with the most comprehensive fully meshed MPLS network in the region. Connecting over 40 countries, the company’s fully protected ringed submarine fibre-optic network spans more than 50,000 kilometers Cable routes include the Caribbean Optical-ring System (ARCOS- 1), Colombia-Florida Express (CFX-1), EC-Link cable system, Fibralink, Maya 1, Eastern Caribbean Fiber Express (ECFS), Taino-Carib, East-West, Cayman-Jamaica Fibre system, Caribbean-Bermuda U.S (CBUS), Americas II, Gemini Bermuda, Pan America (PAN-AM), Antillas 1 and Pacific Caribbean Cable System (PCCS). For more information, visit: www.cwnetworks.com.

About C&W Communications

C&W is a full-service communications and entertainment provider that delivers market-leading video, broadband, telephony and mobile services to consumers in 18 countries. Through its business division, C&W provides data justify hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customized IT service solutions, utilizing cloud technology to serve business and government customers.

C&W also operates a state-of-the-art submarine fiber network – the most extensive in the region.
Learn more at www.cwc.com, or follow C&W on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.

About Liberty Global

Liberty Global is the world’s largest international TV and broadband company, with operations in more than 30 countries across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. We invest in the infrastructure that empowers our customers to make the most of the digital revolution. Our scale and commitment to innovation enable us to develop market-leading products delivered through next-generation networks that connect our over 24 million customers who subscribe to over 50 million television, broadband internet and telephony services. We also serve over 10 million mobile subscribers and offer WiFi service across 10 million access points.

Liberty Global’s businesses are comprised of two stocks: the Liberty Global Group (NASDAQ: LBTYA, LBTYB and LBTYK) for our European operations, and the LiLAC Group (NASDAQ: LILA and LILAK, OTC Link: LILAB), which consists of our operations in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Liberty Global Group operates in 12 European countries under the consumer brands Virgin Media, Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC. The Liberty Global Group also owns 50% of VodafoneZiggo, a Dutch joint venture, which has 4 million customers, 10 million fixed-line subscribers and 5 million mobile subscribers. The LiLAC Group operates in over 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Más Móvil and BTC. In addition, the LiLAC Group operates a sub-sea fiber network throughout the region in over 40 markets.

For more information, please visit www.libertyglobal.com.

C&W Communications
Investor Relations:
Kunal Patel
+1 (786) 376 9294

Media Relations:
Claudia Restrepo
+1 (786) 218 0407

C&W NETWORKS RECOGNIZED AS BEST CARRIER IN LATIN AMERICA & BEST STRATEGIC ACQUISITION BY GLOBAL CARRIER AWARDS

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Company also awarded Best Strategic Acquisition in the region

 

MIAMI, FL – November 13, 2017 C&W Networks, a division of C&W Communications (C&W) and a Liberty Global company (LiLAC Group), which owns and operates the largest state-of-the-art subsea multi-ring fibre-optic in the Caribbean and Latin America won two significant awards on October 25 at the 13th Global Carrier Awards in London. A four-time consecutive past winner of Best Caribbean Carrier Award, C&W won the new and expanded award of Best Latin American Wholesale Carrier and took top billing as Best Strategic Acquisition.

A jury comprising of telecoms analysts, industry experts and the senior editorial team of Capacity Media recognized C&W Networks as best wholesale carrier in Latin America from a selection of major international players.

“We are honored to receive these two significant awards this year,” said Paul Scott, President of C&W LATAM and Wholesale. “Being recognized as Best Latin American Wholesale Carrier is a testament of the best in class network that we operate and affirms our unwavering commitment to our customers across the Caribbean and Latin America.  We are also especially pleased to be recognized as Best Strategic Acquisition as this further demonstrates our commitment to facilitate growth in the region.”

C&W Networks operates the most technologically advanced and extensive broadband network in the Caribbean and Latin America, serving 250 global, regional and international carriers, TV cable companies, Internet Service Providers and Network Integrators. The company’s infrastructure has been consistently recognized as ‘Best in Class’ and includes more than 50,000 kilometers and 60 sub-sea cable stations, combined with extensive terrestrial fiber across the region with a fully meshed MPLS overlay fabric. With multiple Network Operation justifys, the Company provides single-point, end-to-end, 24/7/365, multilingual, direct contact communications across the region.

The Global Carrier Awards are considered among the most prestigious in the wholesale telecoms industry. The awards celebrate innovation, excellence and vision and setting the benchmark for performance throughout the marketplace. This year’s submissions attracted a record number of over 225 entries.

For more information on the Global Carrier Awards 2017 please visit http://www.capacitymedia.com/Global-Carrier-Awards.

About C&W Networks

C&W Networks is a wholly owned subsidiary of C&W Communications and a wholesale telecommunications service provider that offers broadband, IP capacity and a growing portfolio of managed services and integrated solutions to global, regional and local telecom carriers, TV cable companies, Internet Service Providers and Network Integrators. C&W Networks operates the largest state-of-the-art subsea multi-ring fibre-optic network throughout the greater Caribbean, Central American and Andean region along with the most comprehensive fully meshed MPLS network in the region. Connecting over 40 countries, the company’s fully protected ringed submarine fibre-optic network spans more than 50,000 kilometers Cable routes include the Caribbean Optical-ring System (ARCOS- 1), Colombia-Florida Express (CFX-1), EC-Link cable system, Fibralink, Maya 1, Eastern Caribbean Fiber Express (ECFS), Taino-Carib, East-West, Cayman-Jamaica Fibre system, Caribbean-Bermuda U.S (CBUS), Americas II, Gemini Bermuda, Pan America (PAN-AM), Antillas 1 and Pacific Caribbean Cable System (PCCS). For more information, visit: www.cwnetworks.com.

About C&W Communications

C&W is a full-service communications and entertainment provider that delivers market-leading video, broadband, telephony and mobile services to consumers in 18 countries. Through its business division, C&W provides data justify hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customized IT service solutions, utilizing cloud technology to serve business and government customers.

C&W also operates a state-of-the-art submarine fiber network – the most extensive in the region.

Learn more at www.cwc.com, or follow C&W on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.

About Liberty Global

Liberty Global is the world’s largest international TV and broadband company, with operations in more than 30 countries across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. We invest in the infrastructure that empowers our customers to make the most of the digital revolution. Our scale and commitment to innovation enable us to develop market-leading products delivered through next-generation networks that connect our over 24 million customers who subscribe to over 50 million television, broadband internet and telephony services. We also serve over 10 million mobile subscribers and offer WiFi service across 10 million access points.

Liberty Global’s businesses are comprised of two stocks: the Liberty Global Group (NASDAQ: LBTYA, LBTYB and LBTYK) for our European operations, and the LiLAC Group (NASDAQ: LILA and LILAK, OTC Link: LILAB), which consists of our operations in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Liberty Global Group operates in 12 European countries under the consumer brands Virgin Media, Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC. The Liberty Global Group also owns 50% of VodafoneZiggo, a Dutch joint venture, which has 4 million customers, 10 million fixed-line subscribers and 5 million mobile subscribers. The LiLAC Group operates in over 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Más Móvil and BTC. In addition, the LiLAC Group operates a sub-sea fiber network throughout the region in over 40 markets.

For more information, please visit www.libertyglobal.com.

C&W Communications
Investor Relations:
Kunal Patel
+1 (786) 376 9294

Media Relations:
Claudia Restrepo
+1 (786) 218 0407

Cable & Wireless Reports Preliminary Q3 2017 Results

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Return to RGU Growth with 20,000 Adds; Rebased Revenue Growth1 +1% 165,000 New Build / Upgrades YTD & Hurricane Recovery Underway

Cable & Wireless Communications Limited (“C&W”) is a leading telecommunications operator in its consumer markets, which are predominantly located in the Caribbean and Latin America, providing entertainment, information and communication services to 3.5 million mobile, 0.4 million television, 0.6 million internet and 0.6 million fixed-line telephony subscribers2. In addition, C&W delivers B2B services and provides wholesale services over its sub-sea and terrestrial networks that connect over 40 markets across the region.

 Liberty Global’s Acquisition of C&W

On May 16, 2016, a subsidiary of Liberty Global acquired C&W (the “Liberty Global Transaction”). Revenue and subscriber statistics have been presented herein using Liberty Global’s definitions for all periods presented unless otherwise noted. Further adjustments to these metrics are possible as the integration process continues. Significant policy adjustments have been considered in our calculation of rebased growth rates for revenue. For additional information on Liberty Global’s definition of rebased growth rates, see footnote 5. In addition, effective for the 2016 fiscal year, C&W changed its fiscal year end from March 31 to December 31 to conform with Liberty Global.

 Operating highlights:

  • RGU3 additions of 20,000 in Q3 took YTD additions to 15,000
    • Broadband4 RGU additions of 10,000 in Q3, compared to a decline in Q2
      • Network upgrades and improved product offering led to gains of 4,000 and 6,000 in Panama and Jamaica, respectively
      • 23,000 next-generation WiFi “Connect Boxes” across our broadband subscriber base at the end of Q3 2017; significantly enhancing the quality of the in-home broadband experience
    • Video decline of 4,000 RGUs in Q3, in-line with Q2 losses
      • New bundles were introduced in Trinidad; however, the underlying headwinds from over-the-top services continued, resulting in video attrition of 3,000. In Panama, our cable video gains were offset by DTH losses
    • Fixed voice additions of 14,000 in Q3, compared to a 9,000 decline in Q2
      • Bundles driving demand in Jamaica, Trinidad and Panama
    • Mobile subscribers5 declined by 43,000 in Q3
      • Subscribers in Panama fell by 22,000 as we repositioned our offers to focus on higher ARPU customers. New competition in the Bahamas continued to impact our business and drove a 19,000 reduction in mobile subscribers
    • New build and upgrade initiatives delivered approximately 85,000 premises in Q3, bringing the YTD total to approximately 165,000 new or upgraded homes

Update on Impacts of Hurricanes Irma and María:

  • In September 2017, Hurricanes Irma and Maria impacted a number of our markets in the Caribbean
  • Portions of C&W’s mobile and fixed networks were significantly damaged as a result of the hurricanes, most notably in the British Virgin Islands and Dominica. In addition, impacted markets are dealing with extensive damage to homes, businesses and essential infrastructure. In these collective areas, our mobile services are largely restored, however significant portions of the fixed networks are not currently operational
  • We are committed to helping people across the Caribbean region recover and rebuild. To that end we launched the Cable & Wireless Charitable Foundation which will distribute funds to assist victims of the hurricanes. We have also provided credits to mobile customers in impacted C&W markets
  • We currently estimate that more than $50 million of property and equipment additions would be required to restore 100% of the damaged networks in the impacted C&W markets, and that the effects of the hurricanes will negatively impact C&W’s revenue and Adjusted Segment EBITDA by between $15 million and $25 million during Q4 2017. Although these negative impacts will decline as the networks are restored and customers are reconnected, we expect that the adverse impacts of the hurricanes on CWC’s revenue and Adjusted Segment EBITDA may continue throughout 2018 and beyond. These estimates are preliminary and are subject to change
  • We are part of an integrated group property and business interruption insurance program covering all impacted markets up to a limit of $75 million per occurrence, which is generally subject to approximately $15 million per occurrence of self-insurance
    • This policy is subject to the normal terms and conditions applicable to this type of insurance. We expect that the insurance recovery will only cover a portion of the incurred losses of each of our impacted businesses
  • We have not recognized any potential insurance proceeds related to the hurricane losses, and we do not currently expect to receive any significant reimbursements in 2017