Columbus International Inc acquires Karib Cable

Columbus International Inc, a telecommunications provider operating in the Caribbean, Central America and the Andean region, announced yesterday that it had acquired Kelcom International Ltd, which operates Karib Cable.{{more}}

“The announcement marks the fifth significant transaction and third acquisition entered into or completed by Columbus in the last twelve months, as the Company continues to scale its operations while transforming the telecommunications landscape and infrastructure in the region,” a release from Columbus said.

Kelcom, a privately held company, operates under the name Karib Cable and is the leading cable system operator in St Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines and Antigua. The company also holds a host of telecom licenses in Barbados, where it is in the early stages of network deployment. Kelcom’s fiber-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.

“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 & the Grenadines and Antigua. We look forward to welcoming Kelcom, its customers and its approximately 250 talented professionals into the Columbus family.”

Upon completion of this transaction, Columbus’ 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 the company’s position as the leading triple play service provider in the Caribbean, the release said.

SEARCHLIGHT contacted Karib Cable yesterday, but no one was available to provide a comment. One source, however, told SEARCHLIGHT that the deal had been in the making for almost a year.