
Digicel faces Carribean headwinds
Caribbean telco Digicel is facing legal challenges in Antigua & Barbuda and Haiti.
Antigua & Barbuda has been trying to force the telco to give up part of its spectrum in the 850MHz band, with Prime Minister Gaston Browne recently threatening to try and buy out Digicel.
In May, the government ordered Digicel and rival Cable & Wireless Communications, which operates under the Flow brand, to return a significant portion of spectrum in the 850MHz band to reassign it to state-owned operator Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA), which the government says is at a competitive disadvantage.
In early June, Digicel secured a court order to prevent the confiscation of the band saying that it agrees with fair competition "but this is not the way to go about it."
Then, on his radio program on June 16, the prime minster took a more belligerent stance alluding to Digicel as a "monopoly" and saying he had already informed he company the government mulls buying a 51% controlling stake.
"Ultimately, if they think they are going to kill APUA, I will say not under my administration. If anything, they will get killed."
He added, "I recognize that the telecom space is somewhat overcrowded because the market is so small it really probably justifies a monopoly, at best two players, so if one has to leave I want to tell them it won’t be APUA.”
Meanwhile, Digicel denied it had been approached by the government regarding a buyout.
"Digicel would like to make it clear that it has not received any approaches of any kind at any time from the prime minister or anyone in the government of Antigua & Barbuda with regard to a buyout of Digicel's operations in the twin island state," it said.
The company added that "the real issue" is, "the unfair, anti-competitive and illegal actions by the government of Antigua & Barbuda in seeking to confiscate Digicel's legally allocated spectrum for the benefit of the state-owned operator, APUA."
Government lawyer Anthony Astaphan reportedly said telecommunications legislation would be amended to ensure that "spectrum already allocated to a provider [is] distributed or shared with somebody else to create an even playing field."
HAITI
Digicel is expected to file a motion this week to get a Haiti-linked case thrown out of a New York court.
Haitian immigrants to the US accuse the company of "conspiring" in a "fraudulent scheme" to collect fees for the government.
The immigrants allege that Digicel helped Haitian politicians pocket levies like a US$1.50 charge on every money transfer or US$0.5 per minute on every call to Haiti, when they were supposed to fund an education initiative.
In related news, Haiti’s telecoms regulator Conatel has reportedly rejected a request from the country’s two mobile operators for a four-year exclusivity contract on providing LTE services. Conatel grants them exclusivity for only one year.
The regulator’s director Jean-David Rodney reportedly said that Natcom, which is owned by Vietnamese state telco Viettel, launched 4G in Haiti in September 2016 and received an additional block of 1700MHz last year.
A Digicel spokesperson told BNamericas that the company had not made a "formal request" to the regulator, but that such a request is one element proposed by an independent commission called by the prime minister. Negotiations continue.
According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), in 2017, Haiti had a mobile penetration of only 57.4%.
Subscribe to the leading business intelligence platform in Latin America with different tools for Providers, Contractors, Operators, Government, Legal, Financial and Insurance industries.
News in: ICT

From B2B to Starlink: How satellite group Hughes views the Brazilian market
In this interview, Rafael Guimarães, the company's Brazil country manager, talks about connectivity in the Amazon, a greater push towards corporate...

How Brazil’s biggest banks are investing in tech, automation
BNamericas provides updates on the latest projects in the field and the initiatives planned by the country's leading financial institutions.
Subscribe to Latin America’s most trusted business intelligence platform.
Other projects in: ICT
Get critical information about thousands of ICT projects in Latin America: what stages they're in, capex, related companies, contacts and more.
- Project: Google Cloud Region in Mexico
- Current stage:
- Updated:
2 months ago
- Project: Liray Data Center Expansion (B6)
- Current stage:
- Updated:
3 months ago
- Project: Data Center in Aysén
- Current stage:
- Updated:
3 months ago
- Project: Data Hall Quilicura
- Current stage:
- Updated:
3 months ago
- Project: Nabiax Data Center (Stage II)
- Current stage:
- Updated:
3 months ago
- Project: Optical Mesh - Campos Basin
- Current stage:
- Updated:
3 months ago
- Project: Expansion of the Scala Huechuraba Campus Data Center
- Current stage:
- Updated:
3 months ago
- Project: Celia CETC submarine cable
- Current stage:
- Updated:
3 months ago
- Project: Submarine Cable Aurora
- Current stage:
- Updated:
3 months ago
- Project: Patagonia Connect: Fiber Optic Santiago - Buenos Aires
- Current stage:
- Updated:
3 months ago
Other companies in: ICT
Get critical information about thousands of ICT companies in Latin America: their projects, contacts, shareholders, related news and more.
- Company: NextStream México
- Company: Telconet Latam
-
Telconet is a operator and internet service provider in Ecuador. The company has two main business segments: telecommunications services for corporations and wholesale services ...
- Company: Xtera Inc.  (Xtera)
- Company: NextStream
-
The description contained in this profile was taken directly from an official source and has not been edited or modified by BNamericas researchers, but may have been machine tra...
- Company: Sitecnet Informatica Ltda.  (Tely Telecomunicações)
-
The description contained in this profile was taken directly from an official source and has not been edited or modified by BNamericas researchers, but may have been automatical...
- Company: Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações  (Anatel)
-
Brazilian telecommunications regulator Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações (Anatel) was created to promote the development of telecommunications in the country. The agency, whi...
- Company: Ascenty Data Centers e Telecomunicações S.A.  (Ascenty)
-
Brazilian data center infrastructure and connectivity solutions provider Ascenty Data Centers e Telecomunicações S.A. (Ascenty) was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in the c...
- Company: Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad  (ICE)
-
Founded in 1949, Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) is a Costa Rican autonomous state-owned company that controls assets in electric energy generation, transmission a...