The Haitian telecom regulator Conatel has given Haitian mobile operator Comcel, operating under the brand name Voila, an additional 12MHz of spectrum in the 850MHz frequency band, in a bid to help with relief following the earthquake that hit the country…
The Haitian telecom regulator Conatel has given Haitian mobile operator Comcel, operating under the brand name Voila, an additional 12MHz of spectrum in the 850MHz frequency band, in a bid to help with relief following the earthquake that hit the country on January 12.
Comcel is controlled by US based Trilogy International.
In a recent Moody’s article, VP, senior credit officer Gerry Granovsky stated, “The earthquake in Haiti won’t affect the credit quality of Digicel Group Ltd., the largest cellphone provider in the Caribbean, but it poses challenges for smaller rival, Trilogy International Partners LLC.”
Granovsky went on to say, “For Trilogy, which relies on Haiti for a greater portion of its annual cash flow than Digicel does, uncertainties associated with the reconstruction effort could exacerbate existing fundamental credit concerns. To be sure, Trilogy was the first wireless network in Port-au-Prince to restore service after the quake, and it has undertaken significant remediation efforts. It now operates nearly 90% of its cell sites in Haiti. Similar to Digicel, we also expect increased inbound international call volumes will likely help offset the disaster-related monetary damages and the discounts the company will provide to customers in Haiti.
But Trilogy is pursuing a capital-intensive turnaround in its operations in the Dominican Republic and is introducing new services in New Zealand-strategic plans now thrown into question amid uncertainty about whether the company will have the financial capacity to pursue these plans and simultaneously rebuild in Haiti. Liquidity is a primary concern; we estimate that the company ended 2009 with $40-$50 million in cash. Moreover, Trilogy’s operations in Haiti represent a significant part of the company’s annual revenue, at about 22%, and 42% of its EBITDA. For these reasons, we placed Trilogy’s ratings under review for possible downgrade, focusing on whether the company’s cash balance will be sufficient to support operations as Trilogy’s remediation efforts crystallize in the coming months”.