The London-based company, the second-biggest fixed-line phone conglomerate in the United Kingdom, said fixed-line minutes in the Caribbean fell nine per cent in the first quarter this year, while average revenue per customer at the mobile business declined by eight per cent.

"In the face of this, we are accelerating and stepping up our cost-reduction programmes," it said in a trading update ahead of its annual general meeting on Friday in London.

Services

Cable and Wireless sells voice, Internet and wireless networking services to consumers and businesses through its international unit for the Caribbean, Panama and Macau, and its worldwide unit for Europe, Asia and the United States.

The Caribbean businesses now operate under the trading name LIME.

C&W Plc said the slowdown in the Caribbean is "intensifying", adding that the mobile business is also suffering from increased competition.

C&W predicted earnings of just over £1 billion (US$1.6 billion) before interest and taxes for the financial year ending March 31.

"In the first quarter, our two businesses continue to make progress, despite a more challenging economic backdrop," the company's chairman, Richards Lapthorne, said.

- CMC