By Telis Demos Froom The Wall Street Journal

Pop quiz, markets geeks: What’s the Haitian currency? How about the Papua New Guinean? Or Tongan?

You can scroll down to learn the answers, or attend the road show launching this week for the biggest U.S.-listed tech-media-telecom initial public offering of the year: Bermuda-based Digicel Group Ltd., which is hoping to raise as much as $2.3 billion, according to a Tuesday filing.

Though not a household name in the U.S., Digicel is the biggest mobile and cable provider in many countries in the Caribbean and South Pacific, generating $2.8 billion in revenue in its last fiscal year.

After Patrick Drahi’s Altice NV acquired Cablevision Systems Corp., it’s hoped this IPO will next up in a string of highly competitive telecoms deals with service in the Caribbean. Digicel is primarily a mobile provider, but is also getting into the “triple play” model with cable and internet service.

It is owned by Irish telecom billionaire Denis O’Brien, who will still control over 90% of the voting rights in the company post-IPO, according to the prospectus. Mr. O’Brien isn’t cashing out, though his economic stake would be worth more than $3 billion at the top of the IPO price range.

Over $1 billion of the cash raised by the sale of 124 million shares will go toward repaying the company’s pretty big debt load, which at $6.5 billion is more than five times annual Ebitda. Digicel isn’t profitable, losing $158 million last year. The company is pitching the stock at $13 to $16 per share.

In a relatively slow year for IPOs, the deal will be a big one for its lead underwriters, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., UBS AG and Citigroup Inc. UBS also has Ferrari lined up, and Citigroup is about to hit the road as lead bank on First Data Corp.’s IPO, set to be the year’s biggest at $3 billion. J.P. Morgan is on file to lead medical-tech maker Acelity Holdings Inc., a possible billion-dollar-plus deal itself.

Digicel’s biggest single market is Haiti, with a population of about 10 million. About 13% of Digicel’s revenues comes in Haitian gourdes, exposing the company to some decent currency risk, which it warns about in the risk factors section of the prospectus.It also takes payment in Papua New Guinean kina, Samoan Tala, Tongan pa’anga, and Vanatu vatu.

An investors’ view on the Caribbean as a frontier market would be key on this IPO. The company is also making other investments in Haiti, which was devastated by an earthquake in 2010. Since then, the company has invested in its headquarters—the Digicel Haiti Tower that survived the quake—and a hotel, and is building tougher infrastructure there, including a co-location center.

Another challenge will also be fending off deep-pocketed regional competitors including Altice and U.K.-listed Cable & Wireless Communications PLC, which is partly backed by American telecoms investor John Malone after acquiring Columbus International Inc., in which Mr. Malone was an investor. With Mr. O’Brien and Mr. Drahi, that will make it three billionaires vying to control that market.

For more on this story go to: http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2015/09/22/digicel-caribbeans-biggest-mobile-provider-launches-big-u-s-ipo/