RA Invites Comments On Digicel/BTC Deal
The Regulatory Authority said they have been notified of Digicel’s intention to purchase 100% ownership of The Bermuda Telephone Company Limited [BTC] from Barrie Holdings, and are inviting “interested third parties to submit their possible observations on the proposed transaction.”
Last week Digicel confirmed they have “finalised an agreement whereby Digicel intends to acquire BTC,” saying they believe that “BTC’s fixed voice and internet services will complement Digicel’s mobile offerings allowing Digicel to bring better services and value to consumers.”
The deal will mark the second time within a year that BTC has changed hands, with KeyTech having sold 100% of its interest in BTC to Barrie OpCo Limited for $30 million last year, with the deal involving $25 million in cash and $5 million in deferred debt.
The financial terms of the proposed deal for Digicel to acquire BTC have not been disclosed.
The notice from the Regulatory Authority said, “On preliminary examination, the Authority finds that the proposed transaction falls within the meaning of a concentration as set out at section 87[4] of the RAA and requires written approval from the Authority before it can be closed.
“The Authority invites interested third parties to submit their possible observations on the proposed transaction to the Authority. All information of a confidential nature should be clearly identified as such.
“Comments must reach the Authority no later than 4:00pm on 6 February 2015 to be considered. Comments can be sent to the Authority via email to kmasters@rab.bm, by post or by hand to: Kyle Masters c/o The Regulatory Authority, Cumberland House, 3 Victoria Street, Hamilton, Bermuda.”
The notice from the Regulatory Authority is below [PDF here]:
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I smell monopoly
A monopoly like keytech who has logic,cable co,cable vision,cellone and quovadus
I forgot keytech also has yellow pages and controls 411 directory assistance
Keytech no longer has controlling shares in CellOne.. RA made sure of that when the Cellone M3 merger took place
Suggest the RA look at other markets that Digicel operates in. It’s a shame Cable & Wireless sold out to Link and they didn’t operate LIME mobile here like they do in most of the English speaking Caribbean where it goes head to head against Digicel who have over 13 million customers
Bank of Bermuda to HSBC all over again in a telecoms stylee!
Is Digicel somehow linked with CableVision? If not how could it be a monopoly?? What good is the “competition” serving us currently between BTC & CV?? When was the last time either lowered their prices?
it will be a healthy competition for a change. Two fair sized companies trying to compete for our media consumption. At present cv/key tech have the lions share. Digicel are just waiting to offer their alternative. I say why not?
Think this would be bad for Bermuda long term and would most likely force keytech to also sell out
I think the powers that be should look at this deal very carefully . This could possibly be another case of power and greed by a large company and the consumer has no choice but to pay more when the deal is done and the dust settles in the end .