O'Brien appointed to global digital development body

TELECOMS ENTREPRENEUR Denis O’ Brien has been appointed to the Broadband Commission for Digital Development, an international body chaired by his telecoms rival Carlos Slim.

Mr O’Brien attended a meeting of the commission earlier this month in Geneva, which was headed up by Mr Slim, one of the group’s co-chairmen.

Carlos Slim is the world’s richest man according to the Forbes rich list, which this year estimated his fortune at $53.5 billion (€41.2 billion). The Mexican telecoms magnate is one of Latin America’s largest mobile phone and broadband providers.

Denis O’Brien’s Digicel is the other large mobile operator in the Caribbean and Central America, operating in 32 markets. Last year sales at Digicel rose by 12 per cent to $2.2 billion as subscriber numbers rose.

In 2008 it emerged Mr Slim had bought a 1 per cent interest in Independent News Media. Denis O’Brien, INM’s largest single shareholder, recently increased his holding to 20.23 per cent. He has been an on-off critic of the company, earning the reputation of being a dissident shareholder.

The Broadband Commission for Digital Development is an international body jointly run by Unesco and the ITU, the United Nations agency for information and communication technology. The aim of the commission is to promote the economic and social benefits of high-speed, high-capacity broadband connections and to promote technology as a driver for development, particularly in developing countries.

The commission is preparing two reports which are to be presented to the UN in New York in September ahead of a summit on the UN’s Millennium Development Goals.

The broadband commission is to argue that expenditure on broadband technology is a key way to deliver on the UN’s eight Millennium Development Goals, outlined by the UN in 2000 and due to be completed by 2015.

The two reports being prepared by the commission will examine financing models, return on investment, technology choices and strategies for broadband deployment across a range of different types of economies.

Earlier this year it emerged that Digicel could face a bill of £15 million (€17.98 million) to settle a failed legal action against Caribbean rival Cable Wireless Communications after a British High Court awarded costs against Digicel.

The company is continuing to expand in the Caribbean region. Over the coming months it is looking to launch in Tahiti, and is considering opportunities in Costa Rica and East Timor.