Centennial's New Kingston headquarters. - File WALL, N.J.:
CENTENNIAL COMMUNICATIONS Corp. yesterday announced that it has sold its 51 per cent interest in its Jamaica wireless business, Centennial Digital Jamaica Ltd., to Oceanic Digital Communications Inc., the 49 per cent stockholder in Centennial Digital Jamaica.
Centennial Digital Jamaica provides mobile telecommunications services in and around Kingston using CDMA technology and an 800Mhz licence.
In addition, Centennial announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its 60 per cent interest in Infochannel Limited, a Jamaican Internet service provider. The Infochannel transaction is expected to close within 30 days.
In July 2002, Centennial previously announced a write-down of these Jamaican assets, as well as certain non-Caribbean undersea fibre optic cables, totalling US$34 million. Terms of the transactions were not disclosed but will not cause either a material gain or loss.
"While our Jamaica operations had long-run growth potential, we believe these transactions are in the best interests of shareholders," said Michael J. Small, chief executive officer of Centennial.
"The sale of our Jamaican businesses will immediately reduce our consolidated debt level by US$45 million, eliminate the need to invest additional capital. Equally important, it now allows our talented group of associates to focus its efforts on our core operations in the United States, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic."
Centennial is one of the largest independent wireless telecommunications service providers in the United States and the Caribbean with approximately 17.1 million Net Pops and about 900,000 wireless subscribers. Centennial's U.S. operations have approximately six million Net Pops in small cities and rural areas.
Centennial's Caribbean integrated communications operation owns and operates wireless licences for ap-proximately 11 million Net Pops in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and provides voice, data, video and Internet services on broadband networks in the region. Welsh, Carson Anderson & Stow and an affiliate of the Blackstone Group are controlling shareholders of Centennial.
