THE EDITOR, Sir:

I read with interest the article in The Sunday Gleaner published October 11, written by José Otero of Signals Consulting on the impact of América Móvil's entrance into the Jamaican market on Digicel's performance.

I am writing to correct suggestions made in the article of a 17 per cent decline in Digicel Jamaica's 2009 revenue to $426 million compared to $516 million in 2008.

The correct figures are that Digicel Jamaica's revenues were 1.0 per cent lower for the year ended March 31, 2009, at $484 million.

Flat performance

The flat performance is entirely driven by the 20 per cent decline in the value of the Jamaican dollar against the US dollar during the year.

On a constant currency basis - that is, if there had been no depreciation of the Jamaican dollar - Digicel Jamaica's full-year revenues would have been 6.0 per cent higher, demonstrating the continued strong underlying growth of the business.

I understand that the limited available public information on Digicel makes it hard for external analysts to examine our business, however the figures presented in the article are based on a faulty model using inaccurate assumptions.

Furthermore, none of the analysis was put to us by The Gleaner for comment prior to publication.

In addition to the above, it is worth noting that since the rebrand of the Miphone business to Claro in October 2008, Digicel Jamaica has continued to add subscribers, gaining 53,000 subscribers between October 2008 and June 2009.

I leave you to draw your own conclusions about who is potentially suffering from AMX's entry to the market.

Mark Linehan

Chief Executive Officer

Digicel Jamaica