Friday, November 3, 2006

GEORGETOWN, Guyana: Caribbean mobile telecommunications operator, Digicel Group, a new entrant to the Central American market, has announced that it has acquired the Guyanese mobile operator, U Mobile, through the direct acquisition of its ultimate parent holding company.

Following on the heels of the acquisition of El Salvador mobile operator, Digicel Holdings Limited (DHL), Digicel Group now has operations in 22 markets.

Expected to introduce increased competition to the Guyana mobile market, the acquisition of, U Mobile along with its employee base of 119 people, enables Digicel to expand its footprint into South America following the launch in French Guiana earlier this year. Guyana has a population of close to 800,000 people.

By making investments to upgrade and expand U Mobile's existing GSM network, Digicel looks forward to making a significant impact on the quality, standard and availability of mobile telecommunications in Guyana.

President of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo, welcomed Digicel to Guyana noting, "Based on their hugely successful track record across the Caribbean region in making mobile communications more accessible to countries with low mobile penetration rates, we are confident that the presence of Digicel in Guyana will bring increased competition to the market. This will result in new and improved quality services allowing more Guyanese to avail of mobile technology."

Digicel's welcome into the country was echoed by Guyana's Prime Minister, Samuel Hinds: "We look forward to Digicel providing better coverage and better value to the Guyana mobile customer as well as being an active participant in our community."

Visiting Georgetown on Thursday, Digicel Group CEO, Colm Delves welcomed U Mobile employees into the Digicel family stating, "We look forward to heralding a new era in mobile telecommunications in Guyana, where mobile users can embrace new innovative technology and accessible telecom services. At Digicel, our customers are our number one priority and we will bring this outlook to Guyana where we have already built strong ties with the people through our partnership with West Indies cricket."

Barry Hon, head of TWT, the former owner of U Mobile, congratulated Digicel on the acquisition, stating, "We are very proud of our record of being the first cellular company to introduce competition to the Guyanese telecommunications marketplace. We are happy that our investment and hard work have now attracted a well-respected international company of Digicel's caliber who will take competition to a new level in Guyana. We know that we are leaving our investment in good hands."

Digicel Guyana's operation will be headed by Tim Bahrani, a senior executive who has more than 11 years experience in mobile telecommunications management. Prior to joining Digicel, he held senior management positions at Celtel, Africa's leading mobile operator, and Millicom International in Asia.

With more than US$1.2 billion invested in the Caribbean over the past five years, Digicel has become one of the leading brands in the region as well as a significant employer of close to 2,500 staff members.

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