Created: Jul 10, 2007 11:00 AM
LONDON (Bloomberg) — Cable & Wireless Plc, the UK's second-biggest phone company, will provide internet-based television services for Inuk Networks Ltd.'s Freewire unit in a five-year deal valued at about $70 million ($141 million.)C&W will provide access to its network so closely held Inuk can offer TV, phone and internet services, Bracknell, England-based Cable & Wireless said yesterday in a statement. Freewire offers 30 channels, including BBC and Channel 4, over telephone lines.
Inuk's Freewire service, currently available to 100,000 students at UK universities, will be extended with the C&W deal to UK homes beginning in March 2008. Inuk is backed by Newport, Wales-based venture capital firm Wesley Clover, whose chairman is billionaire Terence Matthews.
C&W shares rose 0.2 pence to 196.2 pence at 2.03 p.m. in London trading. The shares have risen 70 percent in the past 12 months.