10 per cent drop in Cable and Wireless revenue

Cable & Wireless Communications recorded a ten per cent reduction in revenue in the Caribbean during the 2009 to 2010 financial year.According to an announcement made by the company on Thursday, revenue declined from US$975 million (BDS$1.95 billion) for the year ended March 31, 2009, to US$873 million (BDS$1.75 billion) for the comparative period this year.Jamaica’s currency depreciation was responsible for US$46 million (BDS$92 million) of this decline.While the company was able to hold on to its mobile market share, average revenue per user per month fell by 16 per cent “as competition in a difficult economic environment led to increased bundled minutes, discounting and more on-Net traffic”.Mobile revenue therefore fell by nine per cent to US$321 million (BDS$642 million) – US$10 million (BDS$20 million) of which was due to the depreciation of the Jamaican dollar.Meanwhile, “broadband revenue grew by five per cent on a constant currency basis to US$92 million driven by a six per cent increase in subscribers but the impact of currency depreciation transformed this into a one per cent decline on a reported basis,” the company said. (NB)