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Digicel
Announces 39 Percent Subscriber Growth Over Previous Year
Date Posted: June 24, 2008.
Achieves 6.54 million total customers in Fiscal Fourth
Quarter;
Celebrates First Year of Operations in Digicel Guyana and
Digicel El Salvador
THE VALLEY, ANGUILLA — Digicel, the fastest-growing telecommunications
operator in the Caribbean and new entrant to the Central
American market, today announced that it has ended its
fiscal year (March 31,2008) with a record 6.54 million
customers, representing a 39 percent increase compared to
the same quarter in the previous fiscal year (March 31,
2007). Operating across 23 markets, Digicel Group continues
to experience sustained growth in existing markets while
increasing mobile penetration growth rates in new markets.
In November 2007, Digicel successfully launched operations
in Suriname, offering superior customer care, better value
and wider coverage while helping to drive mobile penetration
growth from fifty five percent to close to seventy percent.
Digicel already has a presence in South America through its
operations in Guyana and French Guiana. Its Caribbean and
Latin American GSM networks also extend across the British
West Indies, the Dutch Caribbean, the French West Indies,
Bermuda and El Salvador.
Digicel plans to further expand later this year with a
pending launch in the British Virgin Islands, while Digicel
Central America Holdings, a sister company to Digicel Group,
prepares to launch in Honduras and Panama. These launches
will expand Digicel’s GSM network to 26 markets.
“We’re very excited about our ability to sustain growth
opportunities in existing markets while picking up momentum
in new ones, and we’ve had one of our most successful
financial years to date,” said Colm Delves, Digicel Group
CEO. "We will continue to put our customers first by
offering them better value, world-class customer care, new
technology innovations and attractive offerings based on the
strength of our network.”
Digicel’s key milestones to date include:
Market Growth:
• Digicel El Salvador reached its one-year anniversary April
12, 2008, increasing its subscriber base threefold and
mobile penetration rates from approximately 30 to 61 percent
in 12 months. Meanwhile, Digicel Central America Holdings
Ltd. won a competitive license bid to operate a GSM mobile
network in Panama in May 2008, following its successful
license bid in Honduras in December 2007.
• In November 2007, Digicel launched in the newly
liberalized market of Suriname and has since dramatically
gained market share of 30% in just seven months.
• In May 2008, Digicel Haiti celebrated its second year of
operations becoming the leading brand in the country with
more than 2,000,000 customers. The Digicel Haiti Foundation
celebrated its one-year anniversary in March 2008,
delivering on its initial commitment to build 20 primary
schools across the country.
Interconnect:
• In Trinidad & Tobago in May 2008, Digicel and TSTT signed
an interconnect agreement provisioning that they both pay
reciprocal and retroactive interconnect charges for
interconnection services provided since inception. This
agreement enables Trinidad and Tobago mobile users to send
and receive SMS and text messages from other mobile users in
the country. Both parties also signed an agreement in
relation to sharing space of their respective cellular
towers.
New Management:
• Digicel continues to expand its senior management team
with several key appointments, hiring Jose Antonio Rodriguez
as Digicel El Salvador CEO in March 2008 and promoting
former CEO, Luis La Rocca, to Vice President of Business
Development for Digicel Central America. La Rocca is
responsible for spearheading expansion efforts across the
Central American region.
Digicel’s investment in the Caribbean and the Central
American region exceeds US$2 billion. The company directly
employs more than 4,000 people across its 23 markets.
