Digicel faces court action for call interference

Jan 10, 2009 News

THE row between Jamaica’s two telecom giants intensified this week when LIME took its complaint of call blocking to the Supreme Court, and was granted an ex parte injunction ordering Digicel to restore all connections between the networks of the two mobile providers.
LIME’s claim also sought damages for breach of the Interconnection Agreement between the parties; damages pursuant to the Fair Competition Act; costs; interest; and any further or other relief which the court deems just.
“We’re very pleased, as it vindicates what we’ve been saying all along that Digicel was tampering and blocking our circuits. And it brings into question a lot of the statements they made publicly that they never did so,” LIME Country Manager Geoff Houston said in Jamaica.
“The next move is to encourage a fair and level playing field, and encourage Digicel to do likewise. In the immediate term, this avoids a lot of pain for the customer.”
Houston said that LIME was experiencing less interference with its circuits subsequent to the injunction.
LIME, which rebranded from Cable & Wireless in the Caribbean, has accused Digicel of blocking international calls routed by LIME to its network by turning off circuits which carry that traffic, on December 19, January 7, and yesterday.
LIME had earlier refused to rule out retaliatory blocking of incoming calls from the Digicel network.
Shortly after LIME levelled the charge on Wednesday, Digicel counterclaimed that its local customers had complained of blocked calls to LIME fixed lines.
LIME maintained that the ‘blocking’ is part of a pattern of anti-competitive behaviour by Digicel, including ‘ring fencing’ — charging prohibitively high rates to call between networks, to protect market share.
Earlier, at a press conference at LIME’s Carlton Crescent headquarters in St Andrew, Houston had cited the increased charge levied by Digicel on LIME fixed line customers of $8.50 per minute peak rate to call Digicel customers, which he contrasted with Digicel corporate customers who can make the same call for $4.00 per minute.
LIME said that the events had placed the telecommunications sector in jeopardy and cost the company millions of US dollars in lost revenue.
Responding in a statement to the injunction, Digicel continued to maintain its position that it has not breached its interconnection agreement, but was instead taking action to improve network efficiency and combat illegal traffic routing.
Digicel also said it was awaiting the opportunity to present its case in court on February 3.
“For LIME/Cable & Wireless to threaten to dismantle the entire telecommunications market in some form of retaliatory action because it is unhappy about a systems upgrade is not only shocking, but is morally reprehensible,” said Colm Delves, Digicel Group Chief Executive Officer.
“In fact, it is a threat that has the potential to put people’s lives at risk, and highlights that even after eight years of liberalisation, LIME/Cable & Wireless continues to think and act in a monopolistic fashion.”
Digicel had insisted that LIME should pay to redirect its traffic via a Digicel service, and that calls not made this way would be classified as ‘bypass operations’ in breach of the Telecommunications Act. The OUR had disagreed with this interpretation of the law by Digicel in December, following an earlier complaint by LIME.