Denis O'Brien and Leslie Buckley's Jamaican mobile phone operation, Digicel, has delayed its launch on the Caribbean islands of St Lucia and St Vincent.

According to the Business & Finance magazine, the move was prompted by the company's failure to agree on an interconnect agreement with the incumbent telecom operator, Cable & Wireless (C&W). Such an agreement is vital to the rollout of the service as it allows customers on one network to talk to those on another.

A spokesperson for Digicel said last week it was now considering legal action to force C&W to open up the Caribbean to competition from other operators. C&W assets in the Caribbean are among the most profitable in the British telecom group's portfolio and it will be reluctant to let that slip without a fight with Digicel.

Digicel now has over 600,000 customers in Jamaica and holds licences for many of the islands in the Caribbean. The launch in St Lucia and St Vincent may not be damaging to the company in the longer term, but it is now likely to miss the valuable Christmas sales period in the short term.

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