LIME Jamaica incurred a $351-million net loss for the three months to December 31, 2009 compared to a $33-million net profit in the comparative quarter in 2008, as costs associated with financing, depreciation and amortisation increased 70 per cent.
During the quarter, the telecom managed to keep its other operating expenses at $2.5 billion — the same as the comparative period in 2008 — and even improved its gross margin from $3.9 billion in the corresponding three months in 2008 to just over $4 billion in the review quarter.
Depreciation and amortisation charges for the quarter, however, were $1.3 billion compared with $764 million for the comparative period in 2008, while net finance costs increased by $152 million over the December 2008 quarter, primarily as a result of the increased interest costs of $329 million, which was 76 per cent higher than the comparative quarter in 2008 and which was higher due to additional borrowing from the parent company to fund network development and expansion as well as increased interest rates over the period. More
British telecommunications company Cable & Wireless plc (C&W) set out the final terms of its demerger on Tuesday, including a US$500 million bond offer. 
A Mobile number portability (MNP) service enables mobile phone users to change their service providers without changing their original number. Its purpose is to foster consumer choice and effective competition by enabling subscribers to switch between providers without the costs and inconvenience of changing telephone number. It can also be applied to fixed lines.
Telecoms provider Cable and Wireless plc (C&W plc) said that its international operations, which includes Jamaica, will not be sold amidst yesterday’s announcement that the group will separate into two companies in order to increase shareholder value.
LIME filed a $100-million lawsuit against Digicel on Monday, claiming that the Irish-owned telecom unfairly priced its landline-to-mobile rates by as much as $2.48 per minute below the rate it charges LIME to terminate its landline calls.
Digicel typically has many promotions and competitions to win things running at the same time. They usually promote it through the traditional media, on their website and also by sending a text message to you making you aware of the competition, if you are a prepaid customer when you check your credit status they tag it to the text message that comes back to you with the dollar value of credit left on your phone or if you call their customer service you hear the audio promotion before you are put through to an operator. They promote their stuff 360 degrees and hey that is why they are number uno in the Jamaican market- they are ubiquitous. 
Despite being relatively small by global standards, telecommunications has become one of the Caribbean’s major growth industries. In particular, the region’s mobile sector has been witnessing significant expansion in recent years. To date this growth has largely been harnessed by Jamaican-based mobile provider Digicel. This company is predicted to continue to dominate the robust mobile sector growth during 2009/10. 
