Originally Posted by
Brandysull
Digicel's network is really in a sad state of affairs... I've been hearing of issues relating to service quality and network availability; not the Digicel we used to know. They recently announced they doubled speeds (added 10 MHz of Band 4) to add a bit of zest to the network. Truth is, they were doomed at the start when they thought that could depend on Band 17 to do the leg work for the network. The competition did their homework, added spectrum PROACTIVELY and are now reaping the results (in lower cost per GB) in key markets (Jamaica & Panama to be specific). In my area, Digicel has 20 MHz of spectrum which yields good speeds BUT when compared to the whopping 100+ Mbit/s I get from their competition, it's comical...
As fir Digicel Engineering... looking at the current spectrum allocations, they can go still go wideband on Band 4 but the SMA might reject any bid for that spectrum to have room for a third mobile player. FLOW likely was not given Band 13 for this exact reason (and is perhaps why they went and purchased 25 MHz of PCS to add to their 20 MHz of AWS; to help offset the lack of wiggle room with Band 12). FLOW's spectrum holding are also strategic too; Digicel will never be able to hold an advantage. It can only catch up to a point.