Profiling Fiji's largest traded company

Arthur McCutchan

There was much controversy almost seven years ago when the Fiji government sold 49 percent of its stake in Amalgamated Telecom Holdings to Fiji National Provident Fund for what some alleged was an inflated sum of $253 million. There had after all been an international bidding process and anyway, what entitlement did an organisation tasked with managing the national pension fund have in dipping its toes in the communications industry?

ATH had been incorporated as a public company on March 10, 1998 with the Fiji government as the sole investor and 100 percent owner. The company would consolidate government's investments in the telecommunications sector as part of a public sector reform programme.

So when ATH began operations on December 16 the same year, the government held controlling shares.

In September 1999, FNPF acquired another two percent of issued shares from the government for an additional $10 million, in the process reducing government's shareholding in ATH to 49 percent.

Government sold a further 9.7 percent of shares through a public offer in March 2002 and now owns 34.6 percent of the issued shares while FNPF's shareholding has risen to 58.2 percent.
Other institutions and individuals own 7.2 percent of shares.

ATH is Fiji's only telecommunications holding company. It has investments in the telecommunications sector and is a direct provider of telecommunications services to customers in Fiji. The principal activities of the ATH Group include:

o Provision of local, national trunk telephone services through Telecom Fiji and mobile telephone services through Vodafone Fiji;

o Provision of Internet and data related services through Internet Services Fiji (Connect);

o Sale and service of consumer premises equipment for voice and data through Xceed Pasifika; and

o Provision of directory services through Fiji Directories Ltd.

In addition, ATH also has rights to manage the Fiji government's 51 percent share in Fiji International Telecommunications Ltd (FINTEL).

FINTEL is Fiji's sole provider of international telecommunications services.

Telecom Fiji Ltd is a 100 percent owned subsidiary of ATH. It is the holder of an exclusive licence to provide all telecom services in Fiji until 2014 and operates the country's only public service telephone network (PSTN).

Fiji's telephone directory is published by Fiji Directories Ltd, a joint venture between ATH and Edward H O'Brien. ATH owns 90 percent and Edward H O'Brien (Fiji) Ltd, the remaining 10 percent.

Vodafone Fiji Ltd, the country's sole provider of mobile telephone services is a joint venture between Telecom Fiji (51 percent) and Vodafone International Holdings BV (49 percent).

Internet Services Fiji Ltd trades under the Connect brand name. It is a 100 percent subsidiary of Telecom Fiji and was the first Internet Service Provider to operate in Fiji.

Transtel Ltd is a 100 percent subsidiary of Telecom Fiji and is involved in marketing and selling prepaid calling cards, as well as the management of the public telephone network.
Xceed Pasifika is also a 100 percent subsidiary of Telecom Fiji and sells customer premises equipment like telephone handsets, PABXs and customer premises cabling.

These investments have earned ATH, for the financial year ending March 31 2004 a net earning of $42.852 million, a marginal 1.9 percent increase from $42.070 million earned the previous year.