Susan Gordon, Business Reporter

Phil Green (right), president of Cable & Wireless Jamaica, shake hands with Bjorn Welmer, general manager of Ericsson Panama, to seal a $2 billion deal for the deployment of C&WJ's 3G Mobile Network, at C&WJ's head office, Carlton Crescent, St Andrew, recently. At left is Errol Miller, vice-president of corporate communication.

It seems that another battle in the mobile phone war is about to be engaged, although all the expected combatants claim not to know.

This week, market leader Digicel Jamaica unveiled a new advertising campaign aimed at shoring up customer loyalty, but denies that it is in response to rumours in the market that MiPhone, now owned by American Movil, is about to do something big.

MiPhone has been busy building it cell sites and preparing to launch the latest generation of Apple's I-Phone, but remains coy about the launch date.

And Cable and Wireless, which once ruled the roost as a monopoly in the telecoms market, is apparently planning to rebrand here and elsewhere in the Caribbean. However, the company would neither confirm nor deny that it plans to operate under the acronym LIME.

The only thing that Errol Miller , Cable and Wireless Jamaica's vice president for corporate affairs and corporate communications would confirm was that his boss Ñ latest of a string of persons to have been given a shot at turning the company Ñ had announced earlier this year plans for the creation of a single regional company rather than 13 separate businesses.

"The process to is well underway and we are examining various approaches to achieving our goal while ensuring that what we do will be in the best interest of our customers, our employees and our shareholders," Miller told the Financial Gleaner.

Indeed, C&W and Digicel have been duking it out across the region these past seven years, since Irishman Dennis O'Brien paid US$45 million for a mobile telephone licence in Jamaica to break C&W's monopoly.

O'Brien used Jamaica as a spring-board for a foray across the Caribbean and Central America, becoming the fast-growing telecoms company in the region, operating in 23 territories, with nearly two million subscribers Ñ more than a million of them in Jamaica Ñ and a turn over of more than US$1 billion.

MiPhone, until recently, was the laggard. It acquired its operating licence around the same time as Digicel. But has been slow to build-out its network.

Old uncertainties appear to be behind them since Oceanic Digital sold to American Movil, which is reputed to be spending upwards of US$200 million to put in the infrastructure in preparation to take on its more established rivals in a fight for market share. MiPhone is estimated have fewer than 100,000 subscribers, perhaps a sixth, or less, of C&W's .

MiPhone's marketing manager Noel Esty confirms that the company has been busy assigning dealership s in preparation for its big product roll-out, but would not say when that would happen. Some people, though, say it is within a fortnight.

"It can happen," Esty said. "It could be a week, two weeks, that's information my competitors would love to hear."

Market watchers say that Digicel appears to be taking no chances of anybody stealing a march on the company that brought a sense or brash boldness to the market. Hence, its new "My Digicel Matters to Me" campaign.

However, Patria-Kaye Aarons, the company's new communication manager denied that the campaign is in response or anticipation to anything the competitors might do.

"Definitely not!" Aarons said. "The campaign has been in the pipeline for longer than two weeks."

Digicel, she says, was just coming out of its summer Goldrush period and was getting back on course with its campaigns.

She declined to say how much would be spent on this latest advertising blitz, but reconfirmed the company's programme to invest US$110 million to upgrade its network and secure additional equipment as it broadens its product offerings.

susan.gordon@gleanerjm.com