Vodafone has bought Cable & Wireless Worldwide

Vodafone has shown interest in the purchase of Cable & Wireless Worldwide PLC headquartered in Bracknell, United Kingdom for 38 pence per share. Cable & Wireless is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

The deal is expected to increase the presence of Vodafone in the UK, making it the largest telecom supplier there. The purchase is expected to see some £1.044bn being paid for the ailing Cable & Wireless.

Vodafone Europe B.V. and Cable & Wireless Worldwide PLC announced on the CWW website, that they have reached agreement on the terms of a recommended cash offer to which Vodafone will acquire the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of CWW.

Share price information for Cable & Wireless Worldwide (C&WW) at last close on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) saw a yesterday's close of 35.90 pence. What does such an acquisition mean for the Caribbean region and especially Barbados?

From the point of view of Cable & Wireless Communication (C&WC) share standing in Barbados, the company has been trading at £1.63, or BDS$5.34, at close yesterday.

In 2010 Cable & Wireless demerged and became two companies.

The larger entity, Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CWW), focuses on telecoms services to business, mostly in the UK, whereas Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC), runs consumer telecoms services in 38 territories outside the UK.

Cable & Wireless Worldwide and Cable & Wireless Communication are sister companies but is believe to operate under different management. The CWC which operates LIME is not expected to be part of the Vodafone sale.

CWC operates as LIME in many areas of the Caribbean with the exception of the Bahamas where it operates as BTC, and Trinidad and Tobago, where it operates as TSTT, majority government owned.

CWC operates businesses in the Caribbean, Panama, Macau plus Monaco and Islands, all headquartered at our offices in London.

Vodafone Global Enterprise has a presence in over 65 countries, and is a worldwide player, but for us in the region it should have little effect on us.

According to Wikipedia, Vodafone was implicated in the violent suppression of pro-democracy protests in Egypt's 2011 demonstrations. On 27 January, Vodafone, responsible for much of Egypt's telecommunication infrastructure, shut off all voice and data services for Egyptian citizens and businesses at the request of the Egyptian Government under Hosni Mubarak.