Shaw to step down as LIME CEO

LIME announced today that its chief executive officer for the Caribbean, David Shaw, will step down after four years leading the company.



It comes amidst plans by its parent, Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC), to shed assets and focus on the region.



Shaw will remain with the business for the next six months to facilitate a smooth handover of responsibilities, LIME said in a release.



Tony Rice, chief executive of LIME’s parent company, will take over leadership of the business, working with the regional business leadership team.



CWC recently announced its intention to focus its business on the Caribbean and Central American region, after agreeing to sell its Macau and Monaco & Islands operations.



Shaw expressed gratitude to his colleagues at LIME for their support during his time running the business.



“As a team, we have achieved a great deal during the past four years,” he said. “Our business is fighting back in Jamaica. In The Bahamas we are well positioned to face up to competition when it comes and we are competing strongly in our other markets,” Shaw added.



Rice said Shaw “has managed our Caribbean business through a period of unparalleled and prolonged economic challenges for the region and difficult market conditions.”



During that period, he said, the outgoing CEO has done a sterling job to strengthen the business and delivered critical transformational initiatives.



“Given the importance and challenges of the Caribbean market to CWC, I am taking direct leadership of the LIME business for a period of time to understand better and pursue the opportunities for investment which will improve the services we provide to customers as well as our cost efficiency and competitiveness,” Rice said.



The Caribbean operations have posted reasonable results except for Jamaica, the largest island territory.



Its operations in Jamaica, rocked by stiff competition, posted five straight years of losses culminating with a J$20 billion loss in its latest financial year ending March 2012.



However, the brand regained market appeal following its 2012 summer price slashing of call rates, which reportedly added some 150,000 customers to the undisclosed size of its mobile phone database.



In January 2013, CWC announced that Sable Holding Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary, entered into an agreement with CITIC Telecom International Holdings Limited to sell the Group’s 51 per cent shareholding in Companhia de Telecomunicações de Macau, a territory administered by China.



In December 2012, CWC announced the divestment of the majority of its businesses within its Monaco & Islands division for an enterprise value of US$680 million.



That divestment involved the entire shareholdings in the Maldives, Channel Islands and Isle of Man, Seychelles, South Atlantic and Diego Garcia, as well as a 25 per cent shareholding in Compagnie Monegasque de Communication SAM, the company which held CWC’s 55 per cent interest in Monaco Telecom.



steven.jackson@gleanerjm.com