SkyOnline to decide on new financing year-end

06/09/2003 - <a href=www.latintrade.com>Source: BNamericas US-based regional telecoms holding SkyOnline will decide in about six months whether to hold a financing round with new investors, CEO Claude Burgio told BNamericas. SkyOnline raised US$50mn in its last financing round in April 2001, is debt free, and still has some of that capital on hand for further acquisition opportunities, but as ever will be very cautious in its acquisitions, Burgio said. In general the company aims to increase its portion of revenues from voice this year, up from 10% in 2002, he said. Data service accounted for two-thirds of revenues and the remaining 23% came from leased carrier traffic, both of which are also expected to grow this year, but not as much as voice. To that end SkyOnline is seeking voice-licensed partners in areas where it can't get the necessary license, particularly Montevideo in Uruguay. Contrary to recent reports that the company will invest US$4mn to start wireless local loop operations in Uruguay, Burgio said the company already offers WLL using LMDS infrastructure it inherited from Diveo (bought late 2002), and in general the company serves some 50 businesses in Uruguay. The extra investment has more to do with adding MMDS infrastructure, which allows better pricing for an additional client niche, and building fiber connectivity to interconnect with SkyOnline's other markets, again most likely by working with operators that already have the license. The company is already working with one such partner, by the name of Dedicado. Burgio's team is still reviewing the potential of the former Diveo assets and deciding which services should be migrated into Uruguay from the other markets. The senior management will be advising sales staff in the next few weeks on which products to push, and Burgio expects to have an idea of growth prospects in Uruguay by year-end. In each market SkyOnline's goal is to perfect the one-stop-shop idea for voice, data and Internet, by providing SMEs with a full range of solutions such as data storage, ADSL, cable modem, LMDS and MMDS. In Brazil the missing link in this scheme is local loop access, to build on the Internet access it can provide through its recent acquisition of Osite and the international big-pipe connectivity obtained through the July 2002 acquisition of Teleglobe's Latin American contracts. SkyOnline's investors include French water, energy and services conglomerate Suez (30%), Luxembourg-based private equity funds NIT (45%) and US-based Pequot Capital investment group (15%). The company also has a presence in Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, Guatemala, El Salvador, Panama and Mexico, and has a total client base of almost 201,000, including some 800 large businesses.