Canadian cable company The Bragg Group intends to brings jobs to the Island after it announced the $70 million purchase of Cable & Wireless Communications' operations in Bermuda.The new owners, who will continue to use the Cable & Wireless brand through a transitional period, also intend to offer customers bundled telecommunication services when planned Government reforms of the industry make that possible.In an interview with The Royal Gazette yesterday, Ann Petley-Jones, the new CEO for Cable and Wireless Bermuda Holdings Ltd, stressed that no jobs would go as a result of the deal.During a transitional period, she said the company would continue to use some support services provided by CWC from London and Guernsey. But in time those services would be shifted, some to Bermuda, bringing extra jobs to the Island, and others to Canada.These services included IT, human resources, new product development, the customer contact centre and the billing system.“There will be no redundancies this year,” Ms Petley-Jones said. “There will be some new jobs coming to Bermuda, some through repatriation of services from Guernsey and London and some through corporate growth in the future. We can't say how many right now.”Bragg also plans to make infrastructure investments, but how much and what will depend on what services it decides to offer.Thirty people work at CWC in Bermuda and another nine at Quantum.Bragg has an agreement with CWC to continue using the Cable & Wireless Bermuda brand for up to one year. No decision has yet been made on a replacement name. The Bragg Group, which is privately held and operates as EastLink, serves customers in nine of the ten Canadian provinces. It has about 200,000 corporate customers and provides telecoms services to about 500,000 homes. In Canada, it was the first company to offer a “triple play” - a package of telecom, internet and video services.Asked if Bragg wanted to offer similar packages in Bermuda, Ms Petley-Jones said: “We certainly do. We'd like to offer as full a suite of services as possible.”She added that she was not in a position to divulge more detailed plans, until regulatory reform - which is set to end the licensing system that restricts the services that different telecoms companies can offer - is completed.A quick glance at the EastLink website shows that in Nova Scotia, for example, the company offers cable television, including HDTV, and videos on demand, internet service at advertised speeds of 100 Megabits per second, as well as telephone services.Bragg acquired Cable and Wireless (Bermuda) Holdings Ltd, Cable and Wireless Bermuda Ltd, Cable & Wireless eBusiness Ltd and a 40 percent shareholding in Quantum Communications Ltd.Bragg will also own a “substantial share” - the company has not disclosed the size of the stake - in the CBUS cable system to the US and British Virgin Islands, which was owned by CWC and France Telecom, and will hold one of the four seat's on the undersea cable's management committee.Ms Petley-Jones said her primary focus was on ensuring a “seamless transition” of ownership for customers and employees.Binding agreements were signed on Tuesday by CWC and the Bragg Group, with closing to take place within a few weeks. Ms Petley-Jones said the $70 million purchase price represented a significant premium to its valuation on CWC's books - but that was an indication of Bragg's confidence in Bermuda.“It's a strong price which makes it clear that we think this is a strong group of companies in a very attractive market,” she said. “We are happy to pay that price because we believe this is the right time to buy.”The Bermuda economy had challenges, but so did other places, she said, adding that she believed Bermuda would emerge from recession.Cable & Wireless has been operating in Bermuda for 121 years. Its operations include international calls, data capacity, data storage and disaster recovery services.The London-listed company said yesterday that the sale is in line with its strategy to focus on full-service telecommunications operations in regional hubs.Two weeks ago, CWC agreed to acquire 51 percent of Bahamas Telecommunications Company for $210 million. BTC is the leading mobile-phone, fixed-line and broadband operator in the Bahamas.“Bermuda does not fit our business model as it is not a full-service operation while BTC provides excellent opportunities and a strong strategic fit with our Caribbean business,” chief executive officer Tony Rice said in a press statement.The $70 million price represents a multiple of 6.5 times 2009/2010 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, the company said. The sale is subject to regulatory approval and should be completed by the end of March.CWC's shares rose 6.1 percent yesterday, as the company also announced a $100 million share repurchase programme.Eddie Saints, chief executive of CWC for the Channel Islands and Isle of Man region, of which the Bermuda operations were part, said: “This transaction is an example of our efforts to reshape our portfolio and focus on geographies where we have scale and competitive advantage.“While Bermuda now sits outside our core hubs, as a Bermudian I am happy and very proud of our wonderful heritage spanning 121 years of service dating back to 1890 when modern technologies of the telegram cable system and radio systems first connected Bermuda to the rest of the world.”Useful websites:www.eastlink.cawww.cwbda.com