LIME Shocked At Digicel’s Disparaging Remarks About Caribbean Regulators

April 19, 2010: Barbados--LIME’s Executive Vice President for Legal and Regulatory Affairs, Don Austin, has welcomed the ruling by the High Court in the United Kingdom in the case involving a suit brought by Digicel against LIME for allegedly delaying Digicel’s entry into several islands in the Caribbean between 2002 and 2006.

The Court yesterday ruled against Digicel who had brought suit against LIME seeking millions of dollars in damages.

At the same time though, Mr. Austin is expressing shock at reports in the media which indicate that Digicel is claiming that their obviously devastating loss should be attributed to the weak regulatory frameworks in place in these Caribbean jurisdictions.

According to Mr. Austin, Digicel is casting aspersions against regulatory bodies, which are comprised by some of the Caribbean’s best and brightest. Mr. Austin added that it is very telling and that Digicel now finds it convenient to criticize the very regulatory framework which it has used to its own advantage over the years aand which has facilitated liberalisation of markets that has led to active competition, as evidenced by the market shares gained by new entrants, particularly Digicel.

Mr Austin concluded: “Digicel cannot have it both ways. They are happy with the regulatory bodies when everything goes in their favour; but when they lose what was, from the beginning, a baseless case, which only resulted in a colossal waste of time and money, they are ready to speak disparagingly about those same bodies”. 

The LIME EVP also reiterated that Cable & Wireless Communications, LIME’s parent company, will be taking action against Digicel to seek the reimbursement of the costs incurred in defending the suit which ran into several million United States dollars.