Digicel is a Jamaican and Caribbean
mobile phone
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...
network and home entertainment provider operating in 33 markets worldwide.
Digicel has operated in several countries, including
Guyana
Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...
,
Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...
,
Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
,
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...
,
St. Lucia
Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerin ...
,
Suriname
Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...
, and
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
.
History
Digicel was founded in 2001 by
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
entrepreneur
Denis O'Brien
Denis O'Brien (born 19 April 1958) is an Irish billionaire businessman, and the founder and owner of Digicel. He was listed among the World's Top 200 Billionaires in 2015 and was Ireland's richest native-born citizen for a period of several ye ...
. The company launched in April 2001 in Jamaica.
In March 2003, Digicel expanded to
St. Lucia
Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerin ...
and
St. Vincent
Saint Vincent may refer to:
People Saints
* Vincent of Saragossa (died 304), a.k.a. Vincent the Deacon, deacon and martyr
* Saint Vincenca, 3rd century Roman martyress, whose relics are in Blato, Croatia
* Vincent, Orontius, and Victor (died 305) ...
. In 2005, Digicel purchased Cingular Wireless’ Caribbean and
Bermuda
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n operations.
In April 2006, Digicel launched its services in
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...
. In May 2006, Digicel began operations in
Haïti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and so ...
.
Between 2006 and 2008, Digicel expanded into the Central American mainland, as well as the Pacific.
In September 2006, it acquired an unrelated mobile phone provider: Digicel Holdings in
El Salvador
El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...
.
![Digicel storefront in Castries, Saint Lucia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Digicel_storefront_in_Castries%2C_Saint_Lucia.jpg)
In 2007, Digicel acquired U*Mobile in
Guyana
Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...
, and launched in
Suriname
Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...
in December.
OUR court rulings
In April 2002, Digicel received permission from Jamaica's then-minister of industry, commerce and technology,
Phillip Paulwell
The Honourable Phillip Paulwell (born 14 January 1962) is a Jamaican politician. Paulwell is the current Member of Parliament for the constituency of Kingston East and Port Royal and former Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining STEM ...
, to disregard the interconnectivity fee ceiling issued by the Offices of Utilities Regulation (OUR).
Following a judicial review, it was determined that Paulwell did not have the power to make this decision.
Digicel appealed the ruling to the
Jamaican Supreme Court in 2003 and won.
OUR appealed the decision to the appellate court, which ruled Paulwell's decision was outside his powers and OUR didn't have to comply with Paulwell's directive.
Digicel appealed to the Privy Council, Jamaica's final court of appeal, which upheld the appellate court's decision in 2007.
Digicel appealed the decision to the United Kingdom Privy Council.
In January 2010, the Council ruled in favour of the OUR, meaning
LIME
Lime commonly refers to:
* Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit
* Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide
* Lime (color), a color between yellow and green
Lime may also refer to:
Botany ...
(formerly Cable & Wireless Jamaica) was allowed to keep the J$340 million Digicel had been ordered to pay them by the Jamaican courts.
In 2015, LIME's parent company acquired Columbus Communications and decided to adopt the brand name FLOW for its consumer-facing business, replacing the LIME name. As of May 2016, the LIME name was fully discontinued.
2010–present
Digicel Mobile Money, a mobile banking service, was launched in Fiji in July 2010. Also in 2010, Digicel launched TchoTcho, a cash app for money transfers to phones in Haiti.
In 2011, Mobile Money in Fiji was expanded to allow transfers to and from
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
and
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
at no cost.
In February 2011, Digicel took a controlling stake in Netxar Technologies, a leading systems integrator in the Caribbean region. In March, Digicel announced that it was selling its operations in Honduras and El Salvador to Mexican telecom company
América Móvil
América Móvil is a Mexican telecommunications corporation headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico. It is the 7th largest mobile network operator in terms of equity subscribers and one of the largest corporations in the world. América Móvil is a ...
, and América Móvil was selling its operations in Jamaica to Digicel. In March 2012, Digicel acquired
Comcel/Voila, its main competitor in Haiti.
In May 2012, the Tax Authority Jamaica (TAJ) visited Digicel's offices in New Kingston with an order from the Jamaican Supreme Court to look for data regarding the company's payment of the general consumption tax.
A couple of weeks later, TAJ and Digicel agreed to have more dialogue surrounding the situation.
In October 2012, América Móvil announced it wouldn't acquire Digicel's operations in El Salvador.
![Digicel Imax](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Digicel_Imax.jpg)
In June 2013, Digicel announced that it would invest $9 billion in a mobile phone network in
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
, if granted a licence. However, Digicel lost the licence bid to
Telenor
Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norwegian majority state-owned multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations worldwide, ...
and
Ooredoo
Ooredoo QSC ( ar, أريد; formerly ''Qtel'') is a Qatari multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Doha. Ooredoo provides mobile, wireless, wire line, and content services with market share in domestic and international telec ...
.
Digicel acquired SAT Telecom, a cable and internet company in Dominica, in February 2014 and relaunched the brand as Digicel Play in October of that year. In September, Digicel acquired Telstar Cable Limited in Jamaica.
In 2015, TchoTcho was relaunched as MonCash with additional banking services.
In September 2016, Digicel Play launched as Play Go, a live streaming service.
In July 2017, Digicel bought 16.6% of Tonga Cable from the government.
In January 2019, O'Brien named Jean-Yves Charlier as chief executive, replacing Michael Willner. Jean-Yves stepped down as the Group CEO of Digicel in July 2020, and Oliver Coughlin was named the CEO for Digicel's Caribbean and Latin American business.
In May 2020, Digicel announced plans to restructure its debt. The restructuring plan was approved by Digicel's bondholders and completed in June 2020. As part of the exchange, O'Brien contributed $50 million in assets to Digicel, consisting of the company's Jamaican headquarters and $25 million in cash.
In November 2020, Digicel announced that, in its financial second quarter to the end of September, its earnings have dropped due to impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In October 2021, Digicel announced the sale of its Pacific operations to
Telstra Group, an Australian telecommunications company.
The sale was estimated at USD$1.6 billion.
![Digicel Bus Stop (29920030973)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Digicel_Bus_Stop_%2829920030973%29.jpg)
However this was thrown into doubt in March 2022 when the Papua New Guinea government imposed a retrospective tax of over $100m on the company.
In September 2022, credit rating service Fitch issued a warning of a potential debt default. ''The Irish Times'' suggested There’s little or no equity value in Digicel.
Corporate sponsorship
Digicel is a sponsor of Caribbean, Central American and Asia-Pacific sports teams, including the Special Olympics teams in these regions. From 2005 to 2018, Digicel sponsored
The West Indies cricket team.
In 2008, Digicel announced that they would sponsor the
Vanuatu national cricket team
The Vanuatu national cricket team is the men's team that represents the Republic of Vanuatu in international cricket. The team is organised by the Vanuatu Cricket Association, which became an affiliate member of the International Cricket Co ...
, as well as the National Rugby 15s and 7s teams. That same year, Digicel became the sponsor of the
Digicel Cup for rugby in Fiji.
In April 2013, Digicel was announced as the first global sponsor of the 2013 inaugural tournament for the
Caribbean Premier League
The Caribbean Premier League (abbreviated to CPL or CPLT20) is an annual Twenty20 cricket tournament held in the Caribbean. It was founded by Cricket West Indies in 2013 to replace the Caribbean Twenty20 as the premier Twenty20 competition in ...
.
In 2021, Digicel sponsored the PlayGo Emerge Competition for short films made in the Caribbean.
Digicel Foundation
In 2004, Digicel and its
shareholder
A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of a corporation is an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the legal own ...
s set up the Digicel Foundation in Jamaica.
The Digicel Foundation is active in Jamaica, Haïti, Trinidad and Tobago and Papua New Guinea. In Haïti, the Digicel Foundation helped rebuild after the
2010 Haïtian earthquake struck
Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is define ...
on January 12, 2010. Projects have included building
primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
s and restoring the historic
Iron Market.
Digicel Group’s mobile operations
The following is a list of Digicel Group’s Pacific operations. These operations are headed by an office in
Port Moresby
(; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New Z ...
,
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
, as well as one in
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
. Digicel’s Pacific operations were acquired by Australian telecommunications company
Telstra
Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...
on July 14, 2022.
The following is a list of the North Atlantic, Caribbean and Central American operations of Digicel Group. All report to Digicel Group's headquarters in
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...
.
Competitors
In the Caribbean region, the main competitor is American-owned Liberty Latin America.
See also
*
Southern Caribbean Fiber
Southern Caribbean Fiber, (once known as Antilles Crossing), is an underwater 20 gigabit per second (Gbit/s) fiber optics ring network connecting several nations and overseas territories of the Caribbean Sea. The initial phase of construction e ...
References
External links
Digicel Homepage
{{Authority control
Communications in Haiti
Communications in Jamaica
Mobile phone companies of El Salvador
Mobile phone companies of Trinidad and Tobago
Companies based in Kingston, Jamaica
Jamaican brands
Telecommunications companies established in 2001