Liberty Global Provides Update on the Impact of Hurricanes in the Caribbean
October 06 2017 - 7:45AM
Business Wire
Liberty Global plc ("Liberty Global") (NASDAQ: LBTYA, LBTYB,
LBTYK, LILA and LILAK), today provided an update on the impact of
Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria on its operations in the
Caribbean.
In Cable & Wireless (“C&W”), over 50% of mobile sites
across our impacted markets of Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda,
British Virgin Islands (“BVI”), Dominica, Montserrat, St Kitts
& Nevis, and Turks & Caicos are now online and we continue
to make progress with further repairs. Our fixed networks also
suffered significant damage across these markets and we are working
to re-establish connectivity as quickly as possible. The revenue
contribution from the markets where we experienced the most
significant impact from Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria
(Anguilla, BVI, Turks & Caicos and Dominica) represent around
4% of C&W’s Q2 2017 revenue.
Although we suffered some damage to our sub-sea systems due to
Hurricanes Irma and Maria, the redundancy and resilience of our
networks enabled us to maintain connectivity throughout all our
countries served, with the exception of Dominica that went
temporarily offline but was quickly restored once the storm
passed.
The impact of the hurricanes on our Liberty Cablevision Puerto
Rico (“LCPR”) operation and C&W in Puerto Rico are still being
assessed. Individuals and businesses across Puerto Rico are dealing
with the challenges caused by water, fuel and food shortages and
severe damage to essential infrastructure. As for most businesses,
LCPR and C&W are dependent on, among other things, power supply
to deliver our 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, we cannot predict when and to what extent LCPR and
C&W will be able to restore services across the island.
We expect to receive insurance proceeds to cover the losses to
our operations resulting from both Hurricanes Irma and Maria as
part of our natural catastrophe risk management program. Because
these hurricanes inflicted damage over a number of days and to a
wide area, we are assessing the extent of damage and loss and the
applicable terms of our insurance policy. At this stage no
assurances can be given as to the total amount and timing of the
insurance proceeds that our operations will ultimately recover due
to a variety of factors such as length of business interruption,
deductibles and cost of infrastructure repair.
Given the uncertainty of the ultimate impacts that the recent
hurricanes have had on our businesses, we are reviewing our
previously-issued 2017 financial guidance for LiLAC and we will
provide an update at our upcoming third quarter 2017 investor call
in November.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995, including statements with respect to the impact of Hurricanes
Irma and Maria on our operations in the Caribbean, our ability to
timely and fully recover proceeds under our insurance policies, our
financial guidance, and other information and statements that are
not historical fact. These risks and uncertainties include, among
other things, events that are outside of our control, such as
hurricanes and other natural disasters, the continued use by
subscribers and potential subscribers of our services and their
willingness to upgrade to our more advanced offerings; general
economic factors; the availability of attractive programming for
our video services and the costs associated with such programming;
our ability to achieve forecasted financial and operating targets;
the ability of our operating companies to access cash of their
respective subsidiaries; the impact of our operating companies'
future financial performance, or market conditions generally, on
the availability, terms and deployment of capital; the ability of
suppliers and vendors to timely deliver quality products,
equipment, software, services and access; and other factors
detailed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, including our most recently filed Form 10-K,
as amended, and Form 10-Q. These forward-looking statements speak
only as of the date of this release. We expressly disclaim any
obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions
to any forward-looking statement contained herein to reflect any
change in our expectations with regard thereto or any change in
events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is
based.
About Liberty Global
Liberty Global is the world’s largest international TV and
broadband company, with operations in more than 30 countries across
Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. We invest in the
infrastructure that empowers our customers to make the most of the
digital revolution. Our scale and commitment to innovation enable
us to develop market-leading products delivered through
next-generation networks that connect our 25 million customers who
subscribe to 51 million television, broadband internet and
telephony services. We also serve over 10 million mobile
subscribers and offer WiFi service across 10 million access
points.
Liberty Global’s businesses are comprised of two stocks: the
Liberty Global Group (NASDAQ: LBTYA, LBTYB and LBTYK) for our
European operations, and the LiLAC Group (NASDAQ: LILA and LILAK,
OTC Link: LILAB), which consists of our operations in Latin America
and the Caribbean.
The Liberty Global Group operates in 12 European countries under
the consumer brands Virgin Media, Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC.
The Liberty Global Group also owns 50% of VodafoneZiggo, a Dutch
joint venture, which has 4 million customers, 10 million fixed-line
subscribers and 5 million mobile subscribers. The LiLAC Group
operates in over 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean
under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Más Móvil and BTC. In
addition, the LiLAC Group operates a sub-sea fiber network
throughout the region connecting over 40 markets.
For more information, please visit www.libertyglobal.com.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171006005214/en/
Liberty GlobalInvestor
Relations:Oskar Nooij, +1 303 220 4218Christian
Fangmann, +49 221 8462 5151John Rea, +1 303 220 4238Kunal Patel, +1
786 376 9294orCorporate Communications:Matt
Beake, +44 20 8483 6428
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