KINGSTON, Jamaica — LIME on Friday labelled Digicel’s call yesterday for the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) to investigate LIME’s call handling – which Digicel says result in some consumers being unfairly charged — as “malicious and potentially libellous”.

“Digicel wrote to LIME regarding an issue with calls that were made to a few LIME numbers by Digicel customers,” a news release from LIME said. “The issue was identified and resolved as far back as January 2014.”

LIME said it is shocked by what can only be described as “malicious and potentially libellous statements made by Digicel in circumstances where the parties were collaborating in good faith and the issue was resolved”. The release went on to say that “the parties operate under a confidential agreement and it appears that in issuing this statement Digicel is in material breach of this agreement and LIME will be taking action”.

LIME in its statement also reminded that any charges to Digicel’s customers are set by Digicel.

The statement from LIME follows a news release by Digicel on Thursday which called on the OUR to launch an investigation into LIME’s call handling.

Digicel said that in November 2013, Digicel detected unusual calling patterns to LIME numbers across 12 of LIME’s Caribbean markets and launched an investigation which allegedly discovered that consumers may be improperly charged for calls to certain LIME numbers.

“Despite persistent efforts to work with LIME to rectify the situation and multiple assurances from LIME that the situation has been corrected, Digicel continues to find intermittent examples of the issue continuing in various LIME markets in the Caribbean,” Digicel said. “As such, Digicel has lost confidence in LIME’s assurances that the issue has been resolved and customer’s credit is no longer being taken in error.”

Digicel said that in order to protect the rights and purse strings of mobile customers, it is turning to the OUR and requesting that it launch an investigation into the matter and “move to ensure the problem is solved and bring an end to the improper charging for calls to certain LIME numbers”.

Digicel also said it is requesting that the regulator ensure a mechanism is established whereby LIME is required to compensate consumers that have been affected by LIME.