Colm Delves, chief executive officer of Digicel Group.

Digicel Group, the dominant mobile phone company in the region, said yesterday its customer base had climbed above four million phone users in 2006, representing 100 per cent subscriber growth last year.

The growth was concommitant with its expansion into new markets throughout 2006, and as Digicel grew so did its corps of employees which climbed from about 2,200 to 3,000.

But the privately owned telecoms, founded by Irishman Denis O'Brien, refused to provide details of its market and earnings, saying it was not prepared to give any more details other than provided in the release, according to an emailed response from Group PR Maureen Rabbitt.

In Haiti, it already signed up one million customers after seven months of operation in a country of about eight million.

In Jamaica, where the company had its start in 2001, its subscriber base was last reported at more than 1.8 billion in a population of about 2.7 million. It's unclear whether Jamaica remains its hottest market, since the company also refused comment on the countries where it does most business.

The company boasts that, compounded, its five month growth in subscribers is running at 1,432 per cent.

New markets

Its investment in the region have now topped US$1.5 billion having completed a swirling round of buys in 2006, which saw the telecoms storming new markets in South America and Central America.

"Digicel's progress in 2006 reinforced our position as the largest GSM provider in the Caribbean region," said a company release quoting CEO Colm Delves, "with sustained growth in our existing markets and unrivaled growth through our entrance into new markets, such as Haiti, Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana and El Salvador."

The company is now in 22 regional markets.

Some of its new acquisitions in 2006 included Bouygues Telecom Caraibe, which gave the company market presence in Martinique, Guadeloupe and French Guiana; Digicel Holdings Limited in El Salvador in October, and U Mobile in Guyana in November, a company it plans to rebrand later this year.

Some of the latter buys were financed by debt, including a US$150 million bond offering in August 2006, led by Citigroup and JP Morgan, that funded operations in Haiti and Trinidad & Tobago.

Digicel's investment of US$260 million for its service roll-out in Haiti in May was, according to the telecoms, "the largest investment ever made in the country by an international company."

business@gleanerjm.com