Shares in British telecoms firm Cable & Wireless slumped yesterday following media reports that its Caribbean operation was under growing threat from Digicel, the mobile operator founded by Mr Denis O'Brien. Jamie Smyth reports.

The firm, which employs 160 staff in Dublin, is under intense pressure to remove its chief executive, Mr Graham Wallace, who has overseen a collapse in its share price to 41p sterling (64 cents), from 800p when he took over.

The publication of a confidential internal company report yesterday detailing Cable & Wireless's poor consumer image, low staff morale and the loss of its dominant position in the market sent the firm's shares sharply lower.

The article published by the Financial Times quoted extensively from the report, which was commissioned by Cable & Wireless to assess the threat posed by Mr O'Brien's mobile firm.

The report shows Digicel captured 65 per cent of the Jamaican market in just two years and has monthly revenues of $16.7 million.

It also says that Digicel is poaching staff from Cable & Wireless mobile phone operation.

A Cable & Wireless spokesman said he could not confirm whether the study was genuine.

"We are not at a stage where we have any confirmation over whether it is a genuine document," he said yesterday.

Cable & Wireless Caribbean operations are seen as a cash cow for the firm's ailing global business, and its shares fell a further 14 per cent on the media report.

Cable & Wireless's share price now stands at 20-year lows following fears over its long-term strategy and financial liquidity.

A decision by the ratings agency Moody's to cut Cable & Wireless bonds to junk status last week forced the firm to get a bank guarantee for a potential £1.5 billion sterling tax liability.