Digicel
Digicel is a Caribbean mobile phone network and home entertainment provider operating in 33 markets across the Caribbean, Central America, and Oceania regions. The company is owned by Irish businessman Denis O'Brien, is incorporated in Bermuda, and is headquartered in Jamaica.
Digicel currently operates in several countries, including Fiji, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago,St. Lucia and Jamaica.
History
Launch in Jamaica, expansion to Greater Caribbean & Latin America
Digicel was founded in 2001 by Irish entrepreneur Denis O'Brien. The company launched in April 2001 in Jamaica. In March 2003, Digicel expanded to St. Lucia and St. Vincent. In 2005, Digicel purchased Cingular Wireless' Caribbean and Bermuda operations.In May 2006, Digicel began operations in Haiti. 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.
, Saint Lucia, in 2012
In 2007, Digicel acquired U*Mobile in Guyana, and launched in Suriname in December.
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 America Movil, and America Movil was selling all of its operations in Jamaica to Digicel. In March 2012, Digicel made the acquisition of Comcel / Voila, its main competitor in Haiti, for $97 million.
Failed Myanmar push
In 2013 Digicel announced that it would invest $9 billion in a mobile phone network in Myanmar, where there was virtually no telephone infrastructure at the time, stating that it planned to have 96 percent coverage in the country by the end of 2015. However, Digicel lost the bid to get licenses in Myanmar to Telenor and Ooredoo.Expansion to the Pacific
In 2006, Digicel expanded into the Pacific. Digicel's sister operation in the Pacific Islands region operates in Samoa and in Papua New Guinea running at 900 MHz GSM with GPRS & Edge data services and in PNG Digicel is now rolling out 3G UMTS/HSPA+ also data services, also via 900 MHz, Vanuatu, Tonga, Fiji, Nauru as well as an experimental license in the Solomon Islands and Tahiti..
Digicel Fiji on 3 November 2010 changed its logo with a shade of blue in the last letters "cel". The blue colour represents the background colour of the Fiji flag and coincided with Digicel Fiji's new ad campaign slogan "Fiji Matters To Us".
Digicel Mobile Money launched in Fiji in July 2010 with subsequent deployments in Tonga, Samoa, Vanuatu and Nauru and Papua New Guinea in progress.
In addition, Digicel was the first to deploy mobile money services in these countries creating an ecosystem of agents that includes the main commercial banks ANZ Bank, BSP, Westpac, National Bank Vanuatu as well as key money movers such as PostFiji and VanuatuPost. The service has been supported by The Pacific Financial Inclusion Program, AusAid and GSM Association's Mobile Money for the Unbanked initiative.
2018 re-brand and new Digicel
After a long & tedious deciding process, the company settled on a new alteration of their logo and corporate identity. The regular "cartoon" images were discarded and black & white talent with red accents was introduced into the picture. The Miami design team worked in charge of changing all assets to the new and improved adaptations under the new guidelines. The rebrand design was originally used by Digicel El Salvador since 2016.Controversy
Jamaican telecoms saga
Attempts by the Jamaican telecoms regulator, the Office of Utilities Regulation, to regulate the Jamaican telecoms market resulted in a drawn-out court battle with Digicel, throughout the 2000s.In April 2002, Phillip Paulwell, the then Jamaican minister of industry, commerce and technology, in response to a complaint from Digicel, instructed the OUR to refrain from interfering with the pricing policies of Digicel. At the time, Digicel had been charging Cable and Wireless an interconnectivity fee each time Cable and Wireless customers called into Digicel's network that was higher than the top fee established by the OUR. The OUR thus instructed Digicel to price its service accordingly.
Following a judicial review, it was ruled that Paulwell had no power to issue the directive to the OUR. However, in 2003, Digicel took the case to Jamaica's Supreme Court and won, though the OUR subsequently appealed the ruling to the appellate court. The Court of Appeal ruled that Paulwell's directive was outside his ministerial powers and invalid, and the OUR had no obligation to comply with it. Digicel then again appealed the ruling by taking the matter to the Privy Council, Jamaica's final court of appeal, though it proved unsuccessful after the Privy Council, upholding the decision of the Court of Appeal, again ruled that Paulwell's directive was ultra vires and that OUR had been correct in ignoring him.
The judgement also meant LIME was allowed to keep the £22 million Digicel had earlier been ordered by the Jamaican courts to pay LIME for termination rates in respect of incoming calls.
Paulwell's integrity was also questioned in 2011 when it emerged via WikiLeaks that U.S. officials based in Kingston, Jamaica's capital, had described him as a "conflicted and meddling" minister. The diplomatic cable, dispatched in 2007, detailed Paulwell's alleged mismanagement of the Universal Access Fund, which was set up by the United States Federal Communications Commission in 1997 to meet Congressional universal service goals as mandated by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. It also documented how he had paid attorney Minette Palmer, his former personal advisor, almost US$450,000 over a 19-month period, despite that no internet facilities had been provided in schools during that time as the scheme intended. To further compound matter was the revelation that Mr. Paulwell had recently awarded a cellular licence to a company controlled by Ms. Palmer and her husband.
Tax raid
In 2012, Digicel's Jamaican offices were raided by the Tax Administration of Jamaica as part of the tax administration's exercise of auditing various sectors of the Jamaican economy, including all companies in the telecoms sector. A high-profile public debate broke out after the TAJ was forced to resort to the courts to secure information about Digicel that the TAJ had requested. At the same time, the TAJ also denied media reports that a tax assessment had been served on Digicel, and stressed that the TAJ had not provided any figures indicating tax owed by Digicel.However, Digicel filed an affidavit to the Jamaican Supreme Court stating that the TAJ had asserted that there was a $1.26 billion discrepancy in the numbers it had calculated and the amount Digicel had included in its GCT returns, but that it was "now abundantly clear that TAJ completely misunderstood the data it been provided with and – rather than seeking clarity – it arrived at its own grossly inaccurate conclusions". The Jamaican Ministry of Finance and Planning hit back saying that it had received significant technical assistance from multilateral agencies, as well as international bilateral assistance. The TAJ accused Digicel of making "unfortunate" and "misleading" accusations against the tax administration, and said it would not be deterred from its auditing exercise as it had "irrefutable proof" of considerable revenue leakage taking place in Jamaica.
Corporate social responsibility
Digicel is a leading sponsor of Caribbean, Central American and Asia-Pacific sports teams, including the Special Olympics teams throughout these regions. Digicel sponsors The West Indies cricket team. It was the title sponsor of the Digicel Caribbean Cup during 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2010. It also sponsors the Cayman Islands Digicel Cup in football, starting in 2006. Digicel sponsors the highest level of football in Trinidad & Tobago, the TT Pro League, known for sponsorship reasons as "The Digicel Pro League".In the Pacific, Digicel is the sponsor of several national rugby teams and also sponsors the Vanuatu national cricket team. It is the sponsor of the Digicel Cup for rugby in Fiji. It also sponsors Taça Digicel, the second top division of the Federaçao Futebol Timor-Leste.
In April they were announced as the first global sponsor of the 2013 inaugural tournament for the Caribbean Premier League. This multi-year deal follows their strategy for supporting cricket and other sporting events in the Caribbean. "The CPL is a perfect fit for Digicel. We're huge fans of West Indies cricket and this is a great opportunity for us to invest not only in what will be an amazing event, but also in the young cricketers who will benefit from around the region", stated Digicel Group Marketing Operations Director Kieran Foley. "Having seen all the plans for the inaugural tournament, we know the CPL will be a spectacle like nothing else seen in the region and we are looking forward to being front and centre of the action."
Digicel and its shareholders also 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 some J$200 million in assistance after Hurricane Ivan devastated many of the islands, especially Grenada and the Cayman Islands.
To date the Digicel Foundation in Jamaica has allocated US$7 million to sustainable development community projects in the country. In Haiti the Digicel Foundation built 20 primary schools in its first year. Digicel promised $5 million in aid to Haiti after the catastrophic 2010 Haiti earthquake struck Port-au-Prince on January 12, 2010. The company has been responsible for several major commitments to re-building Haiti, including the restoration of the historic Iron Market and a commitment to build a new hotel to further encourage economic growth in the capital.
Digicel Group's Mobile operations
The following is a list of Digicel Group's Asia Pacific operations. These operations are headed by an office in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea as well as one in Singapore.| Territory | GSM Frequencies | CDMA Frequencies | UMTS Frequencies | LTE Frequencies | Local Sites |
| 900 MHz | NO CDMA | 900/2100 MHz | 700 MHz 1800 MHz | ||
| 900 MHz | NO CDMA | 900 MHz | 1800 MHz | ||
| 900 MHz | NO CDMA | 900 MHz | 700 MHz | ||
| 900 MHz | NO CDMA | 2100 MHz | 1800 MHz | ||
| 900 MHz | NO CDMA | 900 MHz | 1800 MHz | ||
| 900 MHz | NO CDMA | 900 MHz | 700 MHz |
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.
| Territory | GSM Frequencies | CDMA Frequencies | UMTS Frequencies | LTE Frequencies | Local Sites |
| 900 MHz | NO CDMA | 850/1900 MHz | 700 MHz | ||
| 850/900 MHz | NO CDMA | 850 MHz | 700 MHz | ||
| 900/1800 MHz | 1900 MHz | 2100 MHz | 1800 MHz | ||
| 900/1800 MHz | 1900 MHz | 2100 MHz | 700 MHz 1900 MHz | ||
| 1900 MHz | NO CDMA | 850 MHz | 1900 MHz | ||
| 900/1800 MHz | NO CDMA | Unknown | 1800 MHz | ||
| 900/1800 MHz | NO CDMA | 2100 MHz | 700 MHz | ||
| 900 MHz | 1900 MHz | 2100 MHz | 1800 MHz | ||
| 900/1900 MHz | NO CDMA | Unknown | 1800 MHz | ||
| 900/1900 MHz | NO CDMA | 2100 MHz | 1800 MHz | ||
| 900 MHz | NO CDMA | 900 MHz | NO LTE | ||
| 900/1800 MHz | NO CDMA | Unknown | NO LTE | ||
| 900/1800 MHz | NO CDMA | 1900 MHz | 700 MHz | ||
| 900/1800 MHz | NO CDMA | Unknown | NO LTE | ||
| 900 MHz | NO CDMA | Unknown | NO LTE | ||
| 900/1800 MHz | NO CDMA | 2100 MHz | NO LTE | ||
| 900/1800 MHz | 1900 MHz | 850 MHz | 700 MHz 1700/2100 MHz | ||
| 900/1800 MHz | NO CDMA | 2100 MHz 800 MHz | 1800 MHz 1700/2100 MHz 2600 MHz | ||
| 1900 MHz | NO CDMA | 1900 MHz | 700 MHz | ||
| 900/1800 MHz | NO CDMA | 1900 MHz | 700 MHz | ||
| 900/1800 MHz | NO CDMA | 1900 MHz | 700 MHz | ||
| 900/1800 MHz | NO CDMA | 1900 MHz | 700 MHz 1900 MHz | ||
| 900/1800 MHz | 1900 MHz | 850 MHz | NO LTE | ||
| 850/1900 MHz | 1900 MHz | 850/1900 MHz | 700 MHz 1900 MHz 1700/2100 MHz | ||
| 900/1900 MHz | NO CDMA | 2100 MHz | 700 MHz |
Radio frequency summary
Digicel Home
Digicel Home, formally Digicel Play, is a Digicel's Home Entertainment service that offers pay television, fixed line and Fixed Broadband.History
In November 2014, Digicel Play was launched in Papua New Guinea, with 29 channels in total, including TVWan, a new locally produced free-to-view channel. In May 2015, the provider launched with 26 channels in Tonga under the name "DigiTV" but re-branded to Digicel Play in November 2015.In March 2016, it launched its services in Barbados.
In 2016, Digicel Play launched its service across Trinidad and Tobago.
On June 2, 2020, Digicel revealed that it had entered into a joint venture agreement with French telecoms provider Iliad to provide a mobile service in the West Indies. The agreement will allow the French group to use Digicel’s Radio Access Network capabilities in the French West Indies.
In July 2020 it was announced that Digicel Pacific’s chief executive Oliver Coughlan will be taking over the management of the company’s operations in the Caribbean and Central America.