By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A likely bidder for the second cellular phone licence yesterday pledged it would offer shares in the company to Bahamian investors via an initial public offering (IPO) should it prove successful.

Edison Sumner, chief executive of IP Solutions International (IPSI), told Tribune Business that it had already agreed with its new majority shareholder, Limitless Mobile, to offer equity in the company to Bahamian institutional and retail investors.

Mr Sumner said this decision had been taken ahead of Prime Minister Perry Christie’s comment to Tribune Business last Friday, when he indicated that the Government wanted the successful cellular licence bidder to issue shares to Bahamian investors.

Welcoming the Prime Minister’s comments, Mr Sumner said: “We’ve already made known that we’ve talked about this, and decided that’s the route we wanted to take.

“I feel we have a sense of obligation to involve Bahamians in this and allow them to share in the company’s success, so we’ve decided to make a percentage of the company’s equity available to Bahamians via an IPO.”

Mr Sumner said IPSI, which is set to renamed Limitless Communications (Bahamas) after the Government last week approved the sale of a majority stake in the firm to Limitless Mobile, had yet to decide what percentage of its equity would be made available to Bahamian investors.

“We will see that offering happening at a time to be determined after we have successfully acquired the licence, but we have agreed and decided to make a percentage of the company available to local investors,” Mr Sumner told Tribune Business.

He also called on the Government to begin the cellular liberalisation process “sooner rather than later”, as all interested parties wait on its Task Force to kick-start the process by publishing the Request for Proposal (RFP).

“There are other companies that have an interest in it,” Mr Sumner added. “We have expressed our keen interest.

“The sooner the Task Force completes the RFP, the sooner we will be able to respond to it and submit what we think will be a winning bid for that licence. I’m feeling confident about it.”

IPSI/Limitless will be up against some stiff competition, including BISX-listed Cable Bahamas and the dominant regional cellular player, Digicel. Virgin Mobile is also interested.

While Cable Bahamas will not have a problem with the ‘share issue to Bahamians’, as it is already 100 per cent locally owned and publicly listed, the likes of Digicel, which has always been tightly privately-held, might.

Tribune Business understands that a Cabinet sub-committee has already been formed to oversee the Task Force’s work and the cellular liberalisation process.

It is understood to have met with prospective bidders, including the likes of Digicel, IPSI and Cable Bahamas on Friday.

Its members are understood to include Philip Davis, deputy prime minister; Jerome Fitzgerald, minister of education; Khaalis Rolle, minister of state for investments; Damien Gomez, minister of state for legal affairs; John Rolle; financial secretary; and Creswell Sturrup, permanent secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office.