The Tribune

BY NEIL HARTNELL

TRIBUNE Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

CABLE Bahamas is targeting “opportunistic” growth via possibilities involving 5G mobile, cruise line private islands and data centres following “a long journey” back to profitability with net income of $11.3m for the year to end-June 2026.

Franklyn Butler, the BISX-listed communications provider’s group president and chief executive, signalled to Tribune Business yesterday that it has passed the point where significant multi-million dollar investments - such as its $85m Aliv Fibr network for New Providence - are now starting to generate profits, returns and even dividends for its shareholders.

And, with New Providence’s Aliv Fibr roll-out set to be completed by year-end, he disclosed that Cable Bahamas is now focusing on communications infrastructure investments and upgrades that support the growth of other industries and the wider Bahamian economy, including priority areas and sectors that the Government is targeting for major foreign direct investment (FDI).

Voicing expectations that the group’s likely investment in 5G mobile services will be less than $100m, Mr Butler told this newspaper that Cable Bahamas - as well as the wider communications industry - is waiting on the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) to determine, and release, the necessary policy and supervisory guidance on how this may roll-out and let all parties know the rules.

And he revealed that Cable Bahamas is also eyeing the potential for its Maxil Communications subsidiary to be more than just a data storage and disaster recovery space, with the group eyeing data centre opportunities via “a new site” located on New Providence’s Prospect Ridge.

Speaking after Cable Bahamas delivered what its described as a $12m bottom line “turnaround” for the three months to end-June 2026, as compared to the prior year, with $4m in net income or profits for the fourth quarter, Mr Butler said the “ramping down” of depreciation and amortisation associate with the group’s recent network and infrastructure investments played a big part in the improvement.

“I think it’s a combination of two things,” he explained, also pointing to the 3.1 percent year-over-year increase in consolidated revenue for Cable Bahamas’ 2026 fourth quarter. “The revenue grew by 3 percent, but what is really ramping down is the depreciation. We were investing in Aliv Fibr right after we finished the mobile build-out.

“While Aliv has started to mature and play a significant role in Cable Bahamas’ financials, we had significant amortisation as we built out Aliv Fibr which is now ramping down as we complete the build-out in New Providence. What we see is amortisation and depreciation starting to ramp down, so that is giving us healthy net income on a going forward basis.”

Mr Butler, acknowledging the patience of Cable Bahamas shareholders amid the wait for the group to translate its communications infrastructure investments into profit, said: “It’s been a long journey. I appreciate that our shareholders have been on a journey. We hope that shareholders, customers and young people will be proud of a Bahamian company with these returns on investment.

“That’s been the big shareholder question. People want to see net income. We always had cash flow. We have good net income, so we anticipate it will grow on a a go-forward basis and continue to grow.”

Looking to the future, Mr Butler added: “Our focus will be on improving infrastructure in the country in a broader sense, whether that’s 5G, additional communities in a broader sense, even things like data centres.”

Focusing on the long-anticipated move to 5G, or fifth generation mobile services, the Cable Bahamas chief expressed optimism that the investment will not exceed $100m - and possibly even less than the $85m associated with Aliv Fibr’s fibre-to-the-home network - amid the wait for URCA and the Government to finalise the way forward.

“We are just trying to plan and prepare for that,” Mr Butler said. “We feel that is not going to cost us $100m we don’t think. It’s not going to be where everyone has 5G on every site. It could be a couple of sites, and a phased roll-out. We’re hoping for a much-more controlled process.”

Besides completing the “final pockets” of Aliv Fibr’s New Providence roll-out before year-end, Cable Bahamas is now in the process of doing the same on Abaco while making plans for Grand Bahama and Eleuthera to potentially start next year.

“We are looking at other islands,” Mr Butler said. “We have gone to Norman’s Cay, and are running fibre from Norman’s Cay to Eleuthera so that has redundancy and resilience. These are some of the capital expenditure things we are looking at opportunistically to make sure we a strong fibre backbone and customer service.

“We are thinking through these investments on a go forward basis… We are looking at things on an opportunistic basis. The cruise islands. There are so many. How can we expand the network and expand coverage in an opportunistic way that supports national policies and priorities; tourism, FDI. How can we partner to really improve the infrastructure?

“We’re looking at what Jerome [Fitzgerald, minister of economic affairs] and the Government are doing around financial services,” the Cable Bahamas chief added. “How can we support that? Digital embassies; we are trying to stay ahead of this type of discussion to make sure we support sectors of the economy and allow the Bahamas, from any infrastructure perspective, to be looked at for investment.

“We look at it much more around how do we develop resilient infrastructure in communications so that there’s no question around good quality infrastructure in communications when people make decisions on investments.”

Cable Bahamas, in a statement, affirmed it is now converting major network and infrastructure investments into increased profits and shareholder returns. It said consolidated earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), or operating income, rose by 37.3 percent to $25m for the three months to end-June 2026 with margins jumping to 39 percent - 9.8 percentage points higher than the year before period.

The BISX-listed communications provider added that it generated strong free cash flow, which rose by 14 percent $16m for the 2026 fourth quarter. The group’s net debt-to-EBITDA ratio decreased to 2.4 times’, compared with three times’ in the year before period, while shareholders received an eight cent per share dividend during the period.

"Our fourth quarter tells a compelling story about where Cable Bahamas has been and where we are heading," said Mr Butler. "We made a deliberate, multi-year promise to build world class fibre and mobile networks across The Bahamas.

“Today, our shareholders are seeing the clear financial return on that commitment, reflected in a $12m net income turnaround, $16m increase in quarterly free cash flow, and reduced balance sheet leverage.”

Cable Bahamas said its Aliv Fibr network now passes 124,000 homes and had 39.000 subscribers at end-June 2026. ALIV’s mobile subscriber base grew to 170,000.

“We enter financial year 2027 with strong momentum, dedicated to maximising the profitability of our platform, paying consistent dividends and powering the digital future of our country," Mr Butler added.