The CEO of Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) has become chairman of its Bahamian subsidiary BTC.
Tony Rice joins the board alongside Chris Dehring, chairman of CWC’s Jamaican business. Rice and Dehring replace David Shaw and Gerard Borely…
The CEO of Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) has become chairman of its Bahamian subsidiary BTC.
Tony Rice joins the board alongside Chris Dehring, chairman of CWC’s Jamaican business. Rice and Dehring replace David Shaw and Gerard Borely respectively, who had both been in place since CWC acquired a 51% stake in BTC in April 2011.
In February Shaw resigned from his position as head of CWC’s Caribbean arm and Rice was chosen to take over his responsibilities.
“In full concert with the board representatives of our partners, the Bahamian government, Chris and I will continue the work of transforming BTC,” said Rice in a statement.
The Bahamas’ government has ownership of the remaining 49% of BTC, but the 2011 sale by the previous administration generated political controversy on the islands. The current prime minister, Perry Christie, was elected on a manifesto which included a pledge to reacquire majority status in BTC.
Christie has initiated talks with CWC but the London-based telco does not want to cede its majority shareholding and has made it clear that it does not want to hold minority stakes in any of its businesses.
Christie has also been reported to have said the government cannot afford to buy back the majority, and to have been in talks with Digicel to create a competitor to BTC; the sole mobile operator on the islands. BTC’s monopoly over mobile services will expire in 2014.
