LIME Jamaica yesterday fired the latest salvo in what appears to be an emerging telecommunications war triggered by the March 11 Digicel/Claro merger. Apparently fearing that it could be outmuscled by the Digicel/Claro combine.
LIME said that given the significance of the merger to the Jamaican telecommunications industry, the Government, the Office of Utilities Regulations (OUR) and the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) "should carefully assess the deal, before approval is given by the relevant minister".
1,400 Jamaican workers and with almost 25,000 Jamaican shareholders, we stand ready to cooperate with all industry players to ensure the interests of our country and the Jamaican consumer are best served," Lime's managing director, Garry Sinclair said in a brief statement.
Digicel and Claro announced on March 11 that they would engage in a swapping exercise which would see Digicel selling its businesses in El Salvador and Honduras to America Movil, Claro's parent company, and Claro selling its Jamaican holdings to Digicel.
The development was immediately interpreted by some as ushering in near monopoly in the cellphone industry.
