Cable & Wireless

Cable and Wireless operates its own LLU network in the UK as the C&W Access division to provide a wholesale service to independent ISPs. The main reported customers as of Q3 2007 were Pipex and Virgin Media. However, the acquisition of Pipex by Tiscali in September 2007 means that this part of the business is disappearing.

C&W continues to provide ADSL and SDSL to corporate clients and larger SMEs as part of its business ITC services.

In June 2008 Cable & Wireless agreed to acquire Thus, a smaller alternative telecoms provider and owner of the Demon brand for retail broadband, for a price of GBP330 million. The takeover was cleared by the Office of Fair Trading in September 2008 and completed shortly thereafter.

Combining the Thus and C&W networks was to bring considerable savings, but it was unclear at the time whether C&W would want to return to the retail broadband business by retaining the Demon part of the business. On 22 June 2010, having been a dormant brand under C&W for some time, Demon Internet re-launched itself as a business broadband provider, targeting small and medium sized business users in the UK.

Cable & Wireless got out of the retail broadband business by selling its Bulldog customer base and brand to Pipex for GBP9 million of net cash in the summer of 2006.

C&W Access had revenues of GBP43 million in the year to March 2007, with negative EBITDA of GBP73 million and a total operating loss of GBP128 million. Separate data has not been reported since.

On 26 March 2010, Cable & Wireless Communications and Cable & Wireless Worldwide businesses separated via a demerger. Cable & Wireless Communications Plc became the holding company for the Cable & Wireless Communications Group only and Cable & Wireless Worldwide plc became the holding company of the Cable & Wireless Worldwide Group.

In March 2012, Cable&Wireless Worldwide (CWW) announced that it is in the preliminary stages of evaluating two possible offers for C&W Worldwide, one from Vodafone and another from Tata Communications Limited.