Susan Gordon, Business Reporter

The America Movil acquisition of mobile phone company MiPhone was a US$70 million deal, it emerged in the market this week.

But Oceanic Digital Jamaica, operating under the brand name MiPhone, on Thursday, refused to confirm or deny the price.

"That figure had its origin perhaps on Wall Street in New York where they must have been putting a market value on it," said MiPhone Chief Operating Officer Colin Webster.

"No official disclosure about the price has been made."

Oceanic is a privately owned company.

Private transaction

When pressed as to whether the figure was below or above US$70 million, Mary Thomas, the chief financial officer of Oceanic Digital Communications, parent company of ODJ, told the Financial Gleaner: "It's a private transaction. We are not allowed to give any information on the transaction price. We are a non-public company."

On August 23, Oceanic Digital Jamaica Limited (ODJ) announced in a press statement, that Carlos Slim who owns America Movil, one of the largest cellular phone operators in Latin America, was buying a stake in the Jamaican company.

The deal is slated to be wrapped up early in the fourth quarter.

Its unclear the degree to which America Movil will honour existing commercial arrangements that MiPhone has with companies like Megafone, but Thomas suggested the arrangements are unlikely to be interrupted.

"They are buying the company and if they take over the stocks they would step into the shoes of any contract held with the company," she said.

Plans to expand

As for the fate of employees, Thomas said the new buyer has indicated that the plans to expand the company.

"They told me they are making big plans for Jamaica and are going to expand and grow the business. They are not going into Jamaica not to grow."

When asked whether the expansion would be on the existing CDMA technology which has more expensive handsets or on the GSM network, Thomas said those details were not discussed.

susan.gordon@gleanerjm.com