JAM: Digicel in C&W MTR rift

Digicel Jamaica is suing Cable and Wireless fixed line brand LIME for in excess of $3.2 million over a dispute for unpaid mobile termination rates.

Digicel, the leading network in Jamaica, claims LIME has been underpaying its “interconnection” fees rates since July. It has filed an arbitration claim with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris seeking the full amount, plus legal fees.

LIME is accused of breaching its contract relating to call charges made between mobiles and fixed line, signed in 2001.

It is the latest legal action taken between the two Caribbean networks after Lime, in September, filed a law suit against Digicel for more than £100 million, claiming its landline to mobile charges were up to $2.48 per minute higher than what it charges Digicel customers calling LIME.

The dispute has also seen LIME accuse Digicel of blocking calls from its network to Digicel in previous months. 

Digicel Jamaica’s head of legal and regulatory affairs Richard Fraser, said: “The fact that C&W/LIME vigorously opposed this reference to arbitration before the Jamaican Courts and that it did not even bother to show up to Court today leads us to seriously question whether it has as any belief at all in the merits of its own claims.

“We want this issue resolved quickly and effectively. C&W/LIME has launched numerous spurious legal and PR offensives in recent months – all cynically and misguidedly calculated to detract from the fact that its business is limping along and it wants to walk away from a contract that it freely entered into in 2001. Boo hoo.”