News From Our Region
Digicel accuses C&W
of sabotaging their St. Lucia service, takes out legal action
Seamus Lynch, Chief
Executive Officer of Digicel (Caribbean)
Following Digicel's highly successful launch of the first ever GSM network in St. Lucia, the company today announced that it is commencing legal action against the incumbent Cable & Wireless.
According to Seamus Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Digicel (Caribbean), C&W is at present in breach of its Interconnect Agreement with Digicel by blocking certain international calls to Digicel customers. "It's obvious", Mr. Lynch explained, "that C&W are still attempting to stop competition. The Interconnection Agreement is a binding legal document, which was agreed on after extensive negotiations between the parties and with the intervention of the Prime Minister the Hon. Dr. Kenny Anthony. Furthermore the agreement was subsequently formally approved by the NTRC in St. Lucia."
"Cable & Wireless is currently restricting calls from countries where they still maintain a monopoly such as Grenada, Barbados, and Cayman, as well as from International Carriers that use C&W to terminate their international calls. To put it simply, a C&W customer in Barbados cannot call a Digicel customer in St. Lucia because C&W won't let them! It certainly isn't fair to our customers," continued Lynch.
Digicel's much publicized discussions with
C&W surrounding the Interconnect Agreement were finally resolved
at the end of January.
"It sounds complicated," explained Mr. Lynch, "but
basically every time an overseas customer calls a Digicel customer,
C&W has agreed to pay a rate for bringing the call to our
network. The situation now is that C&W will not carry incoming
international calls to Digicel customers. This is appalling behavior
from an international carrier."
"Digicel has always insisted on fair play," said Mr. Lynch, "and we will continue to fight for what's best for consumers. We will not be bullied by a monopolist who for years took its position in the Caribbean for granted, and is now trying to prevent us from providing the best mobile service to the Caribbean public."
Digicel's simultaneous launch in both St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines last month took the marketplace by storm. With an investment of over US$30m in both islands and employing over 80 people, and a successful operation in Jamaica with in excess of 700,000 customers, the company is well on its way to becoming the premier mobile service provider in the Caribbean.
In addition, Digicel is currently setting up operations in Grenada, Barbados, and Aruba. The company also has license applications pending in the Turks & Caicos islands, Trinidad & Tobago and the Cayman Islands.