Liberty Global’s Latin American and Caribbean group (LiLAC) has announced that it’s reviewing its previously-issued 2017 financial guidance in view of the uncertainty regarding the ultimate impact of Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria on its operations in the Caribbean. The company said over 50 percent of mobile sites across the impacted markets of Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) in Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Montserrat, St Kitts & Nevis, and Turks & Caicos are now online after suffering significant damage, with the company’s fixed networks severely impacted and connections yet to be re-established in many areas.
The impact of the hurricanes on the Liberty Cablevision Puerto Rico (“LCPR”) operation and CWC in Puerto Rico are still being assessed given that LCPR and CWC are dependent on, among other things, power supply to deliver services. Puerto Rico’s power supply and transmission system was severely impacted by the hurricanes and power is still only available in a limited portion of the island. Accordingly, the company said it cannot predict when and to what extent its Puerto Rico operations will be able to restore services across the island.
LiLAC said it expects to receive insurance proceeds to cover the losses to its operations resulting from both Hurricanes Irma and Maria as part of a natural catastrophe risk management programme. However, it cannot at this stage give any assurances as to the total amount and timing of the insurance proceeds that its operations will ultimately recover due to a variety of factors such as length of business interruption, deductibles and cost of infrastructure repair.
