ATH makes $1.7 million buyout in regional bid

September 14, 2009 04:48:28 PM

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Fiji telecommunications giant Amalgamated Telecom Holdings Ltd (ATH) has bought out 51 percent of a Suva-based technology company for $1,753,000 in a bid to expand into the region.

Pacific Emerging Technologies Ltd (PET) is 49 percent owned by Sydney-based Pacific Electronic Commerce Pty Ltd and is licensed to operate in 19 countries in the South Pacific including Fiji.

Operating in Fiji since 2006, PET provides technology for electronic prepayment of telecommunication services, as well as for charges such as energy and water consumption, other government services and Internet access.

ATH chief executive officer Tomasi Vakatora said the investment was finalised in Suva this morning and is consistent with the company’s strategy for growth and diversification in the local and regional markets.

“ATH’s primary interest is for PET to fully utilise its licence and expand its operations out of Fiji and into other neighbouring countries in the South Pacific region,” Vakatora said in a statement.

“This will open a new frontier for Fiji. It will give us access to overseas markets without leaving Fiji,” he told FijiLive.

“They (PET) approached us with their business proposal and we did our analysis before approving it,” he said.

PET officials would not comment, saying Vakatora would make all media statements.

Vakatora said PET would soon activate terminals already installed in Tonga, Kiribati and Solomon Islands to form part of the initial ATH thrust into neighbouring Pacific Island countries.

Additional markets identified for future expansion include Samoa, New Caledonia, Cook Islands, Timor Este, Marshall Islands, American Samoa, Guam, Nauru, Saipan, Norfolk Islands, Vanuatu, Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia.

Vakatora said PET would remain a Fiji domiciled company, with projections showing that eventually up to 90 percent of the company’s revenue could be sourced from offshore.