LIME promises response to Digicel rate cut

Damion Mitchell, News Editor

The Gleaner/Power 106 News Centre



LIME Jamaica says it will be responding to the call rate cut announced today by its competitor Digicel.



Digicel is offering its prepaid customers a flat rate of $8.99 cent per minute to any network at any time once they subscribe to the option.



This is down from the prevailing $14.20 cross-network charges that were previously mandatory for prepaid customers.



With the new call rate option that Digicel has announced, it now costs more to call a Digicel phone from a LIME phone.



Previously it was costing more to call LIME from a Digicel phone.



LIME customers are now charged in the region of $12 dollars a minute to call Digicel.



This afternoon LIME managing director Garfield Sinclair told The Gleaner/Power 106 News that his company has noted the development and noted that it would be reacting in a meaningful way but Sinclair would not say how soon.



"In good, time, in good time is all I can report to you definitively," he said.



Meanwhile, Digicel CEO Mark Linehan says Digicel customers must subscribe to the new call rate option by dialling *155 # then send in order to benefit from the $8.99 call rate option.



He says if Digicel callers do not subscribe to the option they will be charged at the prevailing peak and off peak rates.



This means when compared with Digicel customers who keep the prevailing rates, those who subscribe to the new Digicel call rate option will pay 99 cents more for each minute during off peak hours.



Off peak call rate applies to calls under the prevailing rate structure which are made on weekdays between 8 p.m in the evenings and 7:59 a.m.



On weekends, the off peak rates apply from 8 p.m on Friday to 6 a.m on Monday morning.



damion.mitchell@gleaner.com