Digicel is incorporated in Bermuda and operates in nine countries including Aruba, Barbados, Curaçao, The Cayman Islands, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It is the largest GSM mobile operator in the region and plans to extend its footprint into other Caribbean countries. The acquisition will also strengthen Digicel's market share in The Cayman Islands, Grenada, St. Lucia, Barbados and St. Vincent & the Grenadines, where Cingular's customer base will transition to Digicel.

"We are looking forward to welcoming the Cingular Caribbean operations staff and customers to the Digicel family," said Denis O'Brien, founder and chairman, Digicel Group. "Our industry leading service and unmatched customer care continue to put us in a position of strength as we roll-out a seamless pan-Caribbean telecommunications network."

Cingular Wireless is a joint venture between SBC Communications and BellSouth and says says it sold its operations in the Caribbean not because of losses or poor performance in the market, but because its business focus is solely now on doing business in the United States.

Cingular’s Executive Director of Media Relations, Mark Siegel insisted that Digicel was the right buyer at the right time for a variety of reasons and his company made the deal that seemed most appropriate. “Our focus as a business is in the United States and it is not to own wireless properties outside the United States and that’s the only reason for the sale,” he said, speaking in Antigua on Wednesday after the deal was officially announced. “When you have a strategy, it causes you to do certain things or stop doing certain things and that’s the lens through which we view all of the items in our portfolio and that’s why we made this decision.