Business
Wireless war: LIME takes credit for Digicel rate drop
Prior to the rate review by Digicel, the company’s prepaid customers paid JMD$10 (US$0.12) per minute for calls on the Digicel network, JMD$14.20 (US$0.17) per minute to the LIME network, JMD$17.70 (US$0.21) to call Flow numbers, JMD$12 (US$0.14) per minute for national fixed lines and JMD$10 (US$0.12) per minute for national toll-free numbers.
LIME is now Digicel’s sole competitor in the mobile phones market following the latter firm’s acquisition of the Claro network.
The Claro deal allowed Digicel to cement its place atop the local mobile telecommunications sector where it claims in excess of two million subscribers among the Jamaican population of 2.8 million.
The Fair Trading Commission filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court last month to prevent the deal from being finalized, arguing that the transaction would likely result in higher prices and a slowdown in technological advancements. That suit followed a failed attempt in the Supreme Court by LIME to have then Prime Minister Bruce Golding’s approval of the merger in August overturned.
