Denis O'Brien, chairman and founder of Digicel.

Digicel Group, armed with its new licence, is now ready to expand operations in Fiji under a planned US$80 million (F$120 million) investment.

Digicel Pacific, a sister operation to Digicel Group, will move to create a "seamless pan Pacific GSM network" covering Fiji, a country of more than 900,000 million and 41 per cent cellular penetration, as well as ongoing operations in Samoa, Papua New Guinea and Tonga.

Distributed across countries

About 1,000 Digicel employees are distributed across the four countries, according to group head of communications, Maureen Rabbitt.

The Irish company has had a presence in that region since November 2006, where operations are led by Vanessa Slowey, Digicel Pacific CEO.

"Given its growth potential and geographical location, Fiji is a very important market for us," said Slowey in a company statement. "Our goal is to become the number one operator in this market."

The Fijian licence secured by Digicel signals the breaking of a monopoly on phone service in that market.

Indeed, it's mainly the strategy that Denis O'Brien has used to build Digicel into a multinational corporation, starting with its 2001 entry in Jamaica: by targeting markets anxious for value and better prices, after being locked into service from a single operator.

The Fijian monopoly was held by Vodafone.

With the new investment being made, Digicel will expand its staff there from 40 to some 200-250.

business@gleanerjm.com