Left: David Hall, new head of Digicel North Caribbean. Right: David Hunter, new CEO of Digicel Jamaica

David Hunter, former chief executive officer of Digicel Bermuda, has been shifted to Jamaica to head Digicel's operations here, while David Hall has been reassigned to a much wider portfolio - head of the telecoms group's North Caribbean operations.

Hunter, a Scottish national who has 12 years' experience in the telecommunications industry, including being the boss of Celtel, one of the largest mobile operators in Africa, took up his appointment Thursday.

Digicel Group CEO Colm Delves made the announcement at lunch in Kingston.

Hunter, said Digicel, was instrumental in growing Bermuda's operation to give Digicel a leading market share there and increase its customer base by 75 per cent.

"David Hall has been instrumental in the phenomenal rise of Digicel as a leading mobile provider in Jamaica with more than 1.9 million customers," said Delves.

The move seems strategic as Hall, with his track record of success over the past four years as CEO in Jamaica, is expected to focus on growing the Digicel markets in Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos as CEO of Digicel North Caribbean.

The transformations come as new rival America Movil is building out its Caribbean markets.

The company entered Jamaica last year - Digicel's most lucrative territory - after buying up MiPhone from Oceanic. It's unclear how big MiPhone really is, but disclosures in America Movil's December results said the company had 220,000 subscribers at acquisition.

Digicel remains market leader. Its closest rival is Cable and Wireless Jamaica, which has about 600,000 cellphone subscribers.

Initially launched in 2001 in Jamaica, Digicel has invested more than US$750 million to build a nationwide network in Jamaica, and US$1.9 billion regionally.

susan.gordon@gleanerjm.com