What is Digicel?

Digicel Group Limited
	Private - owned by Denis O'Brien
Founded	2001
Headquarters	Kingston, Jamaica
Key people	Colm Delves (CEO) Denis O'Brien (Executive Chairman)
Industry	Mobile telecommunications
Products	Mobile networks, Telecom services, WiMAX Broadband, Etc.
Employees	~3,000 (2006)
Website	Digicel Group Ltd. Digicel Pacific Ltd.

Digicel is a mobile phone network provider in the Caribbean region. Based in Jamaica, the company provides mobile services in 22 neighbouring islands and countries. With operations across the Caribbean, Central America, South America, and the Pacifc region, the company has an estimated customer-base of over 4.7 million wireless users. [1] The company's largest competitor in the Caribbean region is Cable & Wireless's bmobile brand.

History

Digicel, first established April, 2001 in Jamaica grew to 100,000 customers in approximately 100 days. In the 5 years since the initial launch, Digicel's Jamaican customer base grew to over 1.5 million users. In Haiti, where they launched operations in May 2006, the company reached 1.4 million subscribers by May 2007. Digicel is currently majority owned by Irish entrepreneur Denis O'Brien. The company has a marketshare of roughly 63% in Jamaica.

Competitive Issues with Incumbents

The majority of Digicel networks start up in countries where the telecommunications market has been newly liberated. As a result there has been numberious rows between Digicel executives and former state incumbent operators over interconnect agreements. This has led to Digicel taking some incumbent operators to court. [2] [3]

Digicel Expansion

In 2006 Digicel expanded into the South American mainland as well as the Pacific. On September 2006 Digicel acquired an unrelated mobile phone provider Digicel Holdings in El Salvador, rebranding it as El Nuevo Digicel, and a mobile telecommunications license in Guatemala. In February 2007 Digicel expanded their presence in South America and in the country of Guyana, acquiring U*Mobile, now rebranded as Digicel Guyana Ltd. In April 2007 they announced the acquisition of a mobile license in Suriname, which will bring their network to 23 nations.[4]

Digicel Pacific

Digicel's sister operations in the pacific islands currently only operates in Samoa but has been granted a license to operate in Papua New Guinea. The company also has been granted a license in principle to operate a GSM license from the Government of Fiji, as well as an experimental licence in the Solomon Islands [5].

Partnership with ezetop

On 20th March 2007, Digicel signed an agreement with ezetop to provide mobile credit to the Diaspora across the world. ezetop currently markets Digicel top-up for Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti, Guyana and Samoa in retail stores in the US, the UK and online around the world at their website.

Partnership with Vodafone

On 6 February 2007, Digicel signed a three-year partnership agreement with Vodafone. The agreement, which includes Digicel's sister operation in Samoa, will result to the offering of new roaming capabilities. The two groups will also become preferred roaming partners of each other.[6], [7]

Digicel Foundation

Digicel and its shareholders set up a foundation that has been actively involved in charitable work throughout the Caribbean involving a wide range of school and sports projects as well as providing assistance after Hurricane Ivan devastated many of the islands, especially Grenada and the Cayman Islands.

References

• http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000028/002832.htm (April 17th, 2007) - Digicel Suriname License - Carribbean Net News
• Digicel among three bidding for Colombia's third-largest cellular company (September 01st, 2006) - Barbados Advocate
• Digicel to build US$10-million Caribbean headquarters in Kingston (April 30th, 2006) - Jamaica Observer Newspaper
• Digicel marks five year anniversary with record growth (April 22nd, 2006) - Caribbean Net News
• Digicel continues expansion (August 26, 2005) - Barbados Advocate
• Denis O'Brien, visionary philanthropist embraces employee ownership' by Jean Lowrie-Chin (April 2006) - Jamaica Observer

External links

• Digicel Homepage.