International telecoms firm Digicel has set up a deal to buy the Bermuda Telephone Company — just months after it was sold to Canadian-led Barrie Holdings, The Royal Gazette can reveal.

A spokeswoman for Digicel confirmed: “As a complete communications and entertainment provider, we are always looking for opportunities to bring the Digicel promise of best service, best value and best network to more people and to grow and enhance our service offering.

“As such, Digicel and BTC have finalised an agreement whereby Digicel intends to acquire BTC.”

She added: “Digicel believes that BTC’s fixed voice and internet services will complement Digicel’s mobile offerings allowing Digicel to bring better services and value to consumers.

Digicel declined to say what the terms of the deal were or how much it would pay for BTC.

She added: “In addition, the proposed deal is subject to regulatory approvals and as such, we must hold for those before progressing with our plans.”

But the spokeswoman said: “With the good of customers and employees being our main concern, our intention is to grow our business here in Bermuda and to invest in the future.

“That will see us working to improve the service delivered to customers and looking to build out and enhance the products and services offered to them with an ultimate view to delivering an enhanced multimedia experience across multiple devices.”

BTC executive chairman Roy Graydon, who was part of the Barrie Holdings group of investors who bought BTC six months ago, said: “It was the opportunity to build Bermuda’s leading telecommunications company that attracted us to BTC in the first place.

“But when Digicel approached us with an offer to combine the businesses, we realised that the two companies would complement each other and, working together, could substantially accelerate the pace of that build and it was clear that this would be the best and fastest way to enable us to provide the services of the future to consumers in Bermuda.”

The change of ownership still has to be approved by the Bermuda telecoms watchdog the Regulatory Authority of Bermuda (RAB). A RAB spokesman said it was aware of the proposed takeover.

He added: “The Authority is actively seeking relevant details of the transaction from both parties to enable the formal review process under the Regulatory Authority Act 2011 to take place.

And he said: “Public comment on the proposed transaction will be sought as a part of our deliberations in due course.”

Island telecoms firm KeyTech Ltd sold the company in August last year to Barrie Holdings, which paid $30 million — below the book price — for BTC.

Mr Graydon said at the time the acquisition was the start of a new era and pledged to grow revenue and build a network to provide a range of services, including TV signals, internet access and even home monitoring systems.

The Digicel spokeswoman said: “As and when we have updates, we will be sure to give them.”

She added: “It is worth pointing out that Digicel is built on a promise of delivering best service, best network and best value — and to giving back to our communities.

“As such, you can expect us to take the same approach in this regard in terms of investment and innovation.”

The acquisition — if approved — will give the combined Digicel and BTC group their own landline network as well as maintaining its status as an internet service provider (ISP) — putting them in direct competition with rival CableVision.

But CableVision CEO Terry Roberson said: “We look forward to additional competition in the market, which challenges us to perform at our optimum.

“Bermuda residents and businesses are savvy users of technology and want to be at the cutting edge of entertainment while having access to fast internet speeds.”

Mr Roberson added: “CableVision is poised to take advantage of expanded bandwidth in 2015 and to roll out new services in the Bermuda market while adding to its cable offering, which continues to be popular and appeal to a wide variety of personal tastes.”