XML 122 R12.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT

ORGANIZATION AND BUSINESS OPERATIONS

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

ORGANIZATION AND BUSINESS OPERATIONS

ORGANIZATION AND BUSINESS OPERATIONS

1. ORGANIZATION AND BUSINESS OPERATIONS

The Company is a holding company that, directly and through its subsidiaries, owns and operates telecommunications businesses in North America, the Caribbean and Bermuda as well as a renewable energy business in India. The Company was incorporated in Delaware in 1987, began trading publicly in 1991 and spun off more than a half of its operations to stockholders in 1998. Since that time, the Company has engaged in many strategic acquisitions and investments to help grow its operations, using the cash generated from its established operating units to re-invest in its existing businesses, to make strategic investments in additional businesses, and to return cash to the Company’s investors. The Company has built, and seeks to maintain, resources to support its operating subsidiaries and to improve their customer acquisition, retention, and satisfaction while maintaining optimal operating efficiencies. The Company looks for businesses that offer growth opportunities or potential strategic benefits, but require additional capital investment in order to execute on their business plans. The Company holds controlling positions with respect to some of its investments and non- controlling positions in others. The Company investments in earlier stage businesses frequently offer a product and service development component in addition to the prospect of generating returns on its invested capital.

The Company has identified three operating segments to manage and review its operations and to facilitate investor presentations of its results. Those three operating segments are as follows:

●

International Telecom. The Company’s international wireless services include voice and data services to retail customers in Bermuda, Guyana and the US Virgin Islands. The Company’s international wireline services include voice and data services in Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Guyana and the US Virgin Islands, as well as video services in Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, and the US Virgin Islands. In addition, the Company offers managed information technology services to commercial customers and provide wholesale long-distance voice services to other telecommunications carriers in the countries in which it offer international wireline services

●

US Telecom. In the United States, the Company offers wireless and wireline services. The Company offers wholesale wireless voice and data roaming services and lease critical network infrastructure such as towers and transport facilities to national, regional, local and selected international wireless carriers in rural markets located principally in the Southwest United States. The Company also provide consumer and enterprise mobile and fixed telecommunications services in certain areas where it offers those wholesale services and wholesale long-distance wireline voice services to telecommunications carriers.

●

Renewable Energy. In India, the Company provides distributed generation solar power to commercial and industrial customers. Through November 6, 2018, the Company also provided distributed generation solar power in the United States in Massachusetts, California and New Jersey.

The following chart summarizes the operating activities of the Company’s principal subsidiaries, the segments in which it reports its revenue and the markets it served as of December 31, 2019:


Segment		Services		Markets		Tradenames
International Telecom		Wireline		Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Guyana, US Virgin Islands		Fireminds, GTT+, One, Logic, Viya
		Wireless		Bermuda, Guyana, US Virgin Islands		GTT+, One, Viya
		Video Services		Bermuda, Cayman Islands, US Virgin Islands		Logic, One, Viya
US Telecom		Wireless		United States (rural markets)		Choice, Choice NTUA Wireless, Commnet, WestNet, Geoverse
		Wireline		United States		Essextel, Deploycom
Renewable Energy		Solar		India		Vibrant Energy

The Company actively evaluates potential acquisitions, investment opportunities and other strategic transactions, both domestic and international, that meet its return on investment and other criteria. In addition, the Company considers non-controlling investments in earlier stage businesses that it considers strategically relevant, and which may offer long-term growth potential for the Company, either individually, or as research and development businesses that can support the Company’s operating subsidiaries in new product and service development and offerings. The Company provides management, technical, financial, regulatory, and marketing services to its subsidiaries and typically receives a management fee equal to a percentage of their revenues which is eliminated in consolidation. For information about the Company’s financial segments and geographical information about its operating revenues and assets see Notes 1 and 17 to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Report.