LIME, Digicel claim victory in Supreme Court ruling

ARCH-rivals LIME and Digicel have praised yesterday's Supreme Court ruling in a dispute between the telecoms giants over international call circuits.

LIME (formerly Cable & Wireless Jamaica) claimed victory in the case after the Court ordered Digicel to restore all of LIME's circuits to full capacity, while Digicel described it as "fantastic news", saying that the issue centres on a systems upgrade that Digicel intended to carry out in January 2009 to improve the call quality on its network and identify and control illegal bypass operations -- all for the good of its customers.

LIME, in a release on the ruling, said it "took legal action against Digicel after Digicel blocked traffic on LIME's international call circuits in December 2008, during the crucial Christmas period and again in January 2009".

According to LIME, Digicel's action was in direct contravention of contractual arrangements between both companies.

LIME said that yesterday's court ruling meant that Digicel must now comply with the existing inter-connection agreement between the two companies until the matter is further aired in court.

"This is a big win for LIME and we are extremely pleased that the courts have ruled in our favour and ordered Digicel to restore our international circuits to full capacity," the LIME news release quoted Geoff Houston, managing director for Jamaica and Cayman.

"The court's ruling also supports LIME's position that Digicel's actions were contrary to existing inter-connection agreements and we hope this sends a strong message to Digicel that they cannot arbitrarily disregard contractual agreements and not face the consequences," Houston added.

LIME also said it would vigorously pursue "legal action to recover the considerable revenue that it lost as a result of Digicel blocking LIME's international circuits".

Added the company: "LIME will be joined in these proceedings by Claro, as an application which Digicel had sought to keep Claro out of the case has also been denied. That matter will be heard in court on a future date."

In his reaction, CEO of Digicel Jamaica, Mark Linehan, said the systems upgrade that Digicel intended to carry out in January 2009 to improve call quality was put on hold when Cable & Wireless obtained an ex parte injunction against Digicel in January 2009 citing anti-competitive behaviour.

"Importantly, this ex parte injunction was overturned just a few weeks later in March 2009," said Linehan. "Given that the issue was still not resolved from a legal standpoint, we agreed to suspend the systems upgrade work until such time as the legal process had been completed.

"As such, we are delighted that the judge has recognised the importance of this issue and has today ordered that it be tried as a matter of priority by March 26. This kind of speed and efficiency in the justice system is vital to ensuring a vibrant and competitive telecoms industry and we welcome it wholeheartedly."

Linehan said Digicel was looking forward to demonstrating to the court the importance of offering the very best service to customers and remained "confident that when the issue comes before the court for trial we will be successful".

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