CWC.L Share News (CWC)

Cable & Wireless Communications has entered into a strategic partnership for the pan-America region with rival Columbus Networks.The pair will form a joint venture in the region to unite their cable networks and provide international wholesale telecoms capacity for themselves and to sell to third party carriers.Privately owned Columbus has management control of the joint venture through a 72.5% majority share, with CWC taking the remaining 27.5% share. However, the transaction is not expected to have a material impact on the group's earnings initially.CWC and Columbus both own large sub-sea cable networks in the Caribbean and Central American region and when combined, the joint venture will have a network platform of approximately 42,000 kilometres with connectivity to 42 countries.Initially CWC and Columbus will retain ownership and control of their respective existing networks in the region, before the alliance is due to be broadened within the next two years with Columbus and CWC contributing their sub-sea and related assets into the joint venture company.Tony Rice, Chief Executive of CWC, said the deal with enable the company to better monetise the excess capacity it has has on its networks."The alliance will put both CWC and Columbus in a strong position in the growing market for international wholesale capacity."He added: "This joint venture aims to provide us with access to a secure, long-term supply of international data capacity to support our retail businesses in the pan-America region."Shares in Cable & Wireless Communications were down 0.07% at 43p at 08:26 on Tuesday.OH