Digicel Roaming Charges to be Abolished in Caribbean

Caribbean Telecommunications Union President, Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, the Hon. Phillip Paulwell on Wednesday, August 7, announced an agreement with regional mobile telecoms provider Digicel that will see roaming rates abolished for users of Digicel’s networks when they travel within CARICOM countries.

“After some negotiation, Digicel has agreed as of October 1, 2013, on the abolition of voice roaming on Digicel’s network in CARICOM countries. Each traveling subscriber will be treated as if he is using his local/domestic Digicel network throughout the region and therefore will be billed accordingly,” said Paulwell, who is also Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining in Jamaica.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the joint International Telecommunications (ITU) and Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) Caribbean Ministerial Forum on ICT, which started on August 7 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Minister Paulwell said that negotiations would continue with Digicel for the abolition of roaming on data charges by year-end, and for the removal of taxes on international calls in Jamaica and Haiti.

Discussions with LIME, the region’s other major telecoms provider, on a plan for that network to eliminate roaming charges, the CTU President said, were ongoing.

“The overall aim is to abolish roaming for both voice and data, and the objective is to achieve this by year end,” said Minister Paulwell. “Those charges hinder affordable communication between Caribbean people, and as we move toward greater regional unity, we must take every opportunity to remove the barriers that keep us apart.”