Bahamian sale attracts overseas interests

The government of the Bahamas has said it has received final bids from three separate consortia for the country's national telecommunications company. The three interested parties are local firm Blue Telecommunications, in which the German PTO Deutsche Telekom has a stake, TransWorld Telecom Bahamas, a venture between US company TransWorld and local investors, and a third group called BahamaTel comprising JP Morgan Partners, Citicorp Venture Capital and two local companies. According to the state, the three consortia have each offered approximately USD250 million for a 49% stake and management control in the company which serves a population of around 320,000 people and will be guaranteed a monopoly on the provision of local, inter-regional and international public fixed line voice services for two years after the sale. It will also continue to be the exclusive provider of mobile telephony services for twelve months. The winning bidder will be announced in mid-July.