Pacific Islands Telecommunication Association

After almost a year of negotiations, Australian telecommunications giant Telstra Corp Ltd has completed the acquisition of Digicel Pacific.

This deal has been backed by funding from the Australian Government. Initially, an after tax dispute between the Papua New Guinea Government and Digicel threatened to stall the sale process.

This means that all Digicel operations in the Pacific have now changed hands, however nothing else will change with the company saying it will continue the Digicel name and brand.

In April, Digicel said it was considering legal options after PNG imposed a tax of almost US$100m. Digicel had said the tax law, which was only imposed after the sale had been agreed upon, could affect the planned US$1.6bn sale of its Pacific operations to Telstra.

“With respect to the PNG additional company tax, Digicel has made arrangements to resolve the matter with the PNG tax authorities,” Telstra said in a statement.

“Telstra is not part of this process, and the outcomes of this process are a matter for Digicel.”

Telstra International Chief Executive Oliver Camplin-Warner, said the deal was an exciting milestone for the Digicel Pacific business and its customers in Fiji.

..above news clip sourced from Pacific Advocate

PITA Comments
PITA congratulates both Telstra and Digicel in the completion of this venture. Telstra and Digicel are also Members of PITA.