Australia’s Telstra buys telecoms firm Digicel Pacific for US$1.6 billion to fend off China

Telstra said it would contribute US$270 million to the government-supported deal and hold 100 per cent of the equity in Digicel Pacific

Analysts said Australia’s main concern about Chinese ownership of Digicel was how heavily Pacific economies would come to rely on 5G networks

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Telstra said it would hold 100 per cent of the equity in Digicel Pacific. Photo: AFP

Published: 5:29pm, 25 Oct 2021Updated: 10:12pm, 25 Oct 2021

Australian telco Telstra has partnered with the Australian government to buy the South Pacific operations of Digicel in a US$1.6 billion deal that would prevent a key part of the region’s telecommunications infrastructure falling into Chinese hands.

Telstra, the nation’s largest telco, said in a statement on Monday it would contribute US$270 million to the deal and hold 100 per cent of the equity in Digicel Pacific.

The terms of the sale were agreed on and would be completed within six months, Telstra CEO Andrew Penn said.

“Digicel Pacific is a commercially attractive asset and critical to telecommunications in the region,” Penn said.

Digicel is owned by Irish businessman Denis O’Brien, is incorporated in Bermuda and is headquartered in Jamaica. It operates in 33 markets in developing countries around the world.

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