MOBILE COMPANY Digicel has announced, that it has signed the 50th roaming agreement with international partners. They now have 51 roaming agreements.
These roaming agreements with other GSM operators around the world allows Digicel customers to use these partner networks with their Digicel phone when travelling abroad. In addition, visitors to Jamaica can make and receive calls as well as send and receive text messages on their phones while here on the Digicel network.
Digicel, who began operations in April 2001, is Jamaica's only provider of GSM (Global System for Mobiles), a system that is used in approximately 179 countries by more than 85% of the world's mobile population.
Speaking on the milestone, Digicel's CEO Seamus Lynch paid credit to his hardworking roaming team who as he put it, were the "heart and soul" of the roaming operation, and had worked tirelessly to expand the roaming network since Digicel launched this service late last year.
Mr. Lynch went on to say that this development helps in making Jamaica an attractive place for investors as a well-developed telecommunication infrastructure is linked to economic development of the country. "Keeping in touch with family, friends and business contacts while travelling, has become easier than ever with the technology that now exists," Mr. Lynch said. "In addition to this, what we have seen in recent times is Jamaicans travelling more and more to countries outside of the traditional North Americans and British regions, especially on business. It is mainly for this reason that we established roaming agreements with countries such as Germany, France, Sweden, South Africa and Australia, just to name a few, so that we could make the business of communicating on the move easier for Jamaicans."
Digicel currently has approximately 600,000 customers subscribing to its network and recently increased capacity that will it allow it to accommodate as much as 850,000 customers on its network. Combined with its expansion into the Eastern Caribbean and its expected thrust into the supplying of international calls in March 2003 after full liberalisation, Digicel looks set to capture even more market share, and solidify its status as a telecommunications powerhouse in the region.
Some of Digicel's roaming partners as of November 2002 are as follows (Telecoms partner and country listed):
USA Voicestream
AT&T
Canada
Microcell
AT&T Rogers Belgium
KPN Orange
Ireland
Esat Digifone
Meteor
Eircell
Italy
Omnitel Proto
Spain
Telefonica Moviles
Airtel
Sweden
Europolitan
Telia- Sweden
Switzerland
Swisscom
UK
BT Cellnet
One2One
Orange France
Orange
Bouygues New Zealand
Vodafone N Z
Germany
D2 Mannessmann
Bermuda
Bermuda Telecom
Chile Entel
India
BPL-India
Hutchinson
Finland
Sonera
Singapore
Starhub
Israel Partner Israel
Guadeloupe Orange Caraibe
Malta Vodafone
Norway Netcom
Dominican Republic France Telecom
Australia Optus
Denmark Telia
Germany Interkom
Poland Centertel
South Africa Vodacom
Italy Blue
Liechtenstein Mobilkom Austria Mobilkom
Hungary Vodafone Poland Polkomtel
Hong Kong Hutchinson Turkey Turkcell
Finland Telia
Luxembourg Tango
