An Irish consortium said today it had launched Jamaica's first GSM mobile phone service, Digicel, and would invest a total of around £160 million ($179 million) in the project.
The consortium called Mossel (Jamaica) Ltd is headed by telecoms entrepreneur Mr Denis O'Brien and bid $47.5 million for the country's first GSM mobile phone licence in June 2000.
The consortium said it had over 80 per cent population coverage, taking in all major cities and roads, and planned to set up a pan-Caribbean service of GSM networks.
Jamaica has a population of 2.6 million.
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It now has a mobile phone penetration rate of only 7 per cent compared to 68 per cent in Ireland, it said.