Mobile & Wireless

Digicel Expands Into Guyana

Eyes More Growth in Central and South America

by Ken Wieland

Digicel, a privately-held pan-Caribbean mobile operator, has announced the addition of Guyana to its footprint. Following the GSM license win in the country that sits on the northern coast of South America, Digicel now has a presence in 21 countries.

Details of the license, however, are thin on the ground. Digicel doesn’t reveal its cost or if the Guyanan government has attached any conditions to entering the country’s mobile market (such as job creation or a percentage of population coverage by a certain time). Nor does Digicel disclose any subscriber projections or when it expects to launch commercial service.

The information that is available is that Guyana has a population of around 770,000, a mobile penetration rate of 22 percent, and three mobile operators (including Digicel).

“Guyana will be the fourth largest operation within the Digicel Group and our investment there will match that fact,” says a Digicel spokesperson. “Our overall investment in the region over the past five years is US$1.2 billion.”

Digicel’s aim is to extend its ‘seamless’ pan-Caribbean network further into South America as well as Central America. “We are considering regions throughout the pan- Caribbean, particularly markets where customers are underserved by incumbents,” continues the company spokesperson. “We are in discussion with the government of Suriname [which neighbours Guyana] and look forward to receiving in the near future a licence to operate a GSM network there.”

In June 2006, Digicel launched commercial mobile service in French Guiana, which neighbors Suriname.

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