Barney (pictured), who left GCX in January when the company was reorganised under new owners, will join the Prospector Pacific board as a non-executive director – but not until February 2021.
“I have known IT&E since my first days in the 1990s working in the Asia Pacific region,” said Barney. “I am honoured and look forward to joining the Prospector Pacific board to support IT&E and their other ventures into a new stage of growth during this rapidly evolving era of digital transformation.”
Barney has been based in Hong Kong for more than two decades, working for companies such as Orange, Verizon and Hutchison. He was CEO of Asia Netcom and Pacnet, before becoming CEO of GCX in 2014 and Reliance Communications – then its sister company – the following year.
He is now chairman and managing partner of Asian Century Equity, which invests private capital in technology companies in the emerging markets.
“We are excited to have Bill join our board as he brings more than 20 years of experience in operating and investing across the Asia Pacific region,” said Jim Beighley, CEO of Prospector Pacific.
“Bill’s extensive industry knowledge will be a definite asset as we move into our next stage of growth and expansion for IT&E and other telecom related ventures.”
In addition to its investment in IT&E with SK Telecom, Prospector Pacific invests in telecoms-related businesses across the Pacific region. The company’s primary asset, IT&E, has been delivering connections in Guam and the Marianas for more than 35 years.
Guam is an unincorporated territory of the US in Micronesia in the western Pacific Ocean. The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands is a nearby cluster of islands, also US territory. They have about 230,000 people between them.
Barney’s main company, Asian Century Equity, says it “brings leading investment funds together with financial and operational expertise to further leverage high-value opportunities across the region”. Its “portfolio comprises of companies at late start-up stage with steady EBITDA and revenue growth”.
