Digicel has made the decision to sell its Pacific assets to Australian telecommunications company, Telstra. The Australian government has contributed to the sale as well to provide telecommunication support throughout Pacific island countries.
Digicel Chairman and founder, Denis O’Brien, discussed the sale on CNBC’s Worldwide Exchange programme. This deal comes as an opportunity for both Telstra and Digicel. Denis stated, “The Pacific Islands are very close to Australia. There’s a lot of very strong connections economically and tourism and everything else with these islands… Papua New Guinea is particularly strategic because of the mining industry there, so I think it was a meeting of minds between the government of Australia, Telstra and ourselves as a seller of the assets.”