Narayan AmmachchiLiberty Latin America (LLA) has sold off its operations in the African state of Seychelles to a consortium of investors for around US$104 million.
LLA came to own the telecom network in Seychelles following its acquisition of Cable & Wireless in 2015.
Liberty Latin America has not disclosed the reason for exiting the African state, but its announcement comes weeks after a Seychelles-based IPTV provider teamed up with Chinese communications giant Huawei and disclosed plans to build high-speed 5G networks.
“We are very pleased to find a consortium of local Seychellois investors with the ability to lead Cable & Wireless Seychelles into its next phase of growth,” said Balan Nair, President and CEO of Liberty Latin America.
As of June 30, 2019, Cable & Wireless Seychelles served a total of 23,500 fixed subscribers and 76,000 mobile subscribers.
For Cable & Wireless, India’s Bharti Airtel was the only competitor in Seychelles, but the African state is an archipelago of 115 islands and maintaining a telecom network there was indeed a challenge.
But the sale of Seychellois operations confirms that Liberty Latin America wants to focus its efforts on the Americas. Last month, it acquired AT&T’s Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands operations for US$1.95 billion.
LLA operates over 50,000 kilometers of sub-sea and terrestrial fiber optic cable network that connects over 40 markets in the region.
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