Only this week it announced that it now has 1.376 million subscribers in Jamaica - that's more than half the country's population and the company believes that there is still room for half-a-million more subscribers.

Speaking with the Caribbean Business Report earlier this week, Digicel Group CEO Colm Delves said: "Digicel has come a long way in just four years.  We met our first year target in just 100 days and we have expanded to eight Caribbean countries in that time.  We are still on course to be in Trinidad & Tobago by the end of November this year.  Our population coverage will move from four million to 14 million and we will increase the number of people we employ from 1,100 to 1,700 which is more than a 50 per cent increase.  Therefore, it is imperative that we prepare for the next stage of our development."

Delves outlined the secret of the company's success as its bold deal making; its speed to market (either it was the first to market with products and services or established a better network); customer focus and business optimisation (appropriate cost base to fund growth).

"We have empowered our management team and encouraged them to take risks and it has paid off.  Our marketing efforts are generally acknowledged as being among the best in the region.  We introduced per second billing, we acquired Cingular's Caribbean businesses and our most recent bond offer (US$300 million) was oversubscribed 13 times over.  We have evaluated why we have arrived at our present position and must make preparations for the next stage of growth, which is to establish a seamless Pan-Caribbean wireless network," said Delves.

After its acquisition of Cingular Caribbean and Bermuda assets earlier this year, Digicel will have a presence in Bermuda, Anguilla, St Kitts & Nevis and Dominica.  It has already received regulatory approval for Cingular's businesses in St Vincent, Grenada and St Lucia.

Digicel has recently received regulatory approval for Barbados, Antigua and the Cayman Islands.  Its ambitions also extent to the French Caribbean.

Digicel's has invested around US$600 million in the Caribbean and has also accrued a debt of about US$700 million (including the US$300 million bond offer).  The company denies media reports coming out of Trinidad that for 2005 it has made a profit of US$95 million.

"We recognise our key strengths and want to build on those attributes.  We will now have our operational managers join our key management team.  This will see David Hall (Jamaica CEO) responsible for business optimisation.  Kevin White (Eastern Caribbean CEO) will be developing growth in new markets.  Mario Assaad will head up regional customer focus with Donal O'Shaughnessy (Group COO) responsible for network build-out and integration Ken Mason (licence opportunities) will head up business development.  These are additional responsibilities.  We are focused upon succession planning within the organisation," said Delves.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines/Business/html/20051110T210000-0500_92259_OBS_DIGICEL_RE_POSITIONS_FOR_NEXT_STAGE_OF_GROWTH.asp