By Ben King, 10 May 2002 12:27
NEWS Cash-rich telco Cable and Wireless has added Guernsey Telecom to its portfolio of island telecoms businesses. Cable and Wireless paid £22.5m in cash for the company, which was formerly owned by the Bailiwick of Guernsey, the island's government. Guernsey Telecom, which operates mobile and fixed line telephony and internet access, turns over more than £34m a year. Cable and Wireless sold off a number of assets during the telecoms boom to amass a cash mountain worth £4.7bn by September last year. The company has been on a spending spree ever since, including the £530m buyout of bankrupt internet host Exodus Communications. The company's cash-pile is expected to have dwindled to £1.3bn by next year. Guernsey Telecom will be included in Cable and Wireless's regional division, which includes businesses on a string of islands from the Solomons to the Seychelles. Some, such as Guernsey, have large offshore financial services sectors, including Bermuda, the Caymans or the British Virgin Islands. Cable and Wireless' regional business has been consistently profitable, despite the troubles affecting the company's core networking business. Cable and Wireless will also pay £1.3m for Guernsey Telecom's stake in a cable project linking Guernsey with Jersey and the Isle of Man.
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