Leading Pan-Caribbean Operator Becomes First in Region to Offer GSM and CDMA Roaming Capability
KINGSTON, JAMAICA — (MARKET WIRE) — March 12, 2007 — Digicel, the fastest-growing mobile telecommunications company in the Caribbean and new entrant to the Central American market, today announced that through its partnership with Huawei Technologies, it has launched CDMA roaming in the Caribbean and Bermuda, making it the first GSM operator in the region to simultaneously offer GSM and CDMA on its mobile network.
Huawei has been awarded a CDMA2000 1x EV-DO contract and as a result CDMA travelers coming to the region will now be able to roam on Digicel’s network and experience the same high level of roaming service that GSM roamers have come to expect from Digicel. In its initial stage, CDMA roaming is being introduced to five of Digicel’s 22 markets, including Jamaica, Bermuda, Aruba, Cayman Islands and Barbados.
“When traveling to the Caribbean, many U.S. mobile customers experience poor service and erratic network coverage from CDMA Caribbean operators,” said Mario Assaad, Digicel Group CTO. “Now, they can come to the Caribbean and have reliable mobile service by roaming on our seamless mobile network.”
The announcement follows in the wake of Digicel signing a three-year partnership agreement with Vodafone Group, which will allow customers to seamlessly access their home services as they travel on each other’s network as well as jointly develop enhanced roaming capabilities and become preferred roaming partners.
Digicel has outbound and inbound roaming customers. Outbound customers are those traveling abroad roaming on foreign mobile networks when making mobile calls and inbound customers are travelers who visit the Caribbean and roam on Digicel’s network using their mobile phones.