Business
Digicel defends merger with Claro: – says that it will benefit Jamaica
(Jamaica Observer) – Digicel Jamaica says its acquisition of Claro in Jamaica will spur innovation and investment that will benefit consumers islandwide.
The company in a press release yesterday announced a number of initiatives it said is aimed at ensuring that Jamaicans benefit from technology innovation and that access to these technologies becomes more widespread. The announcement comes after the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) initiated a lawsuit against the merger of Digicel and Claro. The FTC has indicated that the same merger would likely hurt mobile phone customers with higher prices and a slowdown in technological advancements.
According to Digicel, the initiatives will see Jamaica benefiting from “super-fast” mobile technology through the introduction of island-wide 4G Mobile, lower cross-network calling rates and an intent to bring complimentary wireless access to primary and secondary schools and post offices in remote locations.
As a result of the acquisition, Digicel said it will be investing a further US$30 million in the rollout of its 4G Mobile services, in addition to its existing investment of over US$1 billion in Jamaica.
“Based on HSPA+, 4G Mobile from Digicel is the next step in high speed mobile Internet with speeds of up to five times faster than the standard legacy 3G technology,” said Digicel in the release.
The company stated that it will deliver islandwide coverage to over 80 percent of the population and will enable customers to enjoy a better experience through faster access to files, the Internet and social media.
What’s more, Digicel said it has also reduced its cross-network rates, “… meaning that, effective 4th January for prepaid and 12th January for postpaid, customers will benefit from a JA$3.50 (US$0.04) per minute peak rate reduction and a JA$2 (US$0.02) per minute off-peak rate reduction on calls to the other network.”
