( L - R ) Hetherington, Jones

Cable and Wireless (C&W) Plc has cut loose another of its executives, signalling continued frustration at being bested by regional competitor and Irish-owned Digicel Group in its only growth market.

C&W has replaced Chris Hetherington as chief executive officer, Caribbean and Americas, with Tony Bromfield.

Hetherington's departure follows that of Harris Jones last November.

Executive timeline

Bromfield at one time worked with John Pluthero, the man now running C&W International, as head of operations at Energis. Energis, a fixed-line phone service provider, was acquired by C&W in 2005.

At his departure, Hetherington was overseeing a £78 million programme implemented last year to improve service delivery across the region, including a transformation of customer interface.

Hetherington held the job as head of the Caribbean and Americas sub-grouping for 18 months, which appears to track with the timeline that C&W gives its executives to impress the board with results.

Jamaica, for example, has had five CEOs within this decade, the last transition occurring August 2007 with the midnight switch of the highly visible Rodney Davis for the low-profile Phil Green.

Reports out of London say that C&W will formally announce a shake-up of its international division in early March, which will likely include a spin-off of that side of the business from the less impressive UK operation.

In a profit forecast two weeks ago, the group estimated that its core earnings would grow, conservatively, by 19 per cent, to deliver EBITDA of about £585 million in the current financial year.

business@gleanerjm.com