LETTER OF THE DAY - I’m a kidnapped Claro-Digicel customer

Let me state that although I was once a Digicel customer when it first entered the market, since then I terminated that relationship. I was not interested in doing business with Digicel. You can then imagine my extreme objection to the fact that I am now corralled and forced to be part of this network of which I wanted no part.

The way I understand it is that the initial conditions to which the then PM Golding assented, that Digicel operate the Claro network independently, was subsequently changed by his successor, PM Holness.

At the time of the announcement that the ‘takeover’ was now complete, Digicel suggested that its acquiring Claro was good for Jamaica. I disagree.

The basis of my disagreement is this – it will now cost me more money to make calls to my other Claro (now Digicel) numbers and to LIME numbers. With my Claro deal, I had a closed-user-group (CUG) plan with approximately 20 persons. This provided my business with significant savings, which is the reason I took the plan in the first place.

I will break it down for you. As a Claro customer, I paid $4 per minute to make a Claro-to-Claro (out-of-CUG) call, $5 per minute to call LIME and Flow phones, and $10 per minute to call Digicel phones.

Now as a kidnapped Digicel customer, I will pay $10/$8 per minute (peak and off-peak) for Digicel-to-Digicel calls and $14/$13.80 (peak and off-peak) to call LIME phones. I object that I am now being asked to pay more for the same service, with a network that was not my preference. This is extortion.

Digicel’s customers may not be aware, or even care that they pay this much for their calls, but I do. It is an operational saving for my business that has now been eroded by this decision.

I have to make the point that Digicel cannot determine that most of my friends are on its network, suggesting to me that it is, therefore, better for me. That is presumptuous and completely unacceptable.

I was of the view that with the advent of the liberalisation of the telecoms sector, I would have choices. I made a choice to be with a network that I felt was most beneficial to my needs. Yet the Government has allowed me to be kidnapped by Digicel – a network I did not choose.