MIPHONE vs DIGICEL vs CABLE & WIRELESS- Who’ll win the cellphone war?

The stage has been set. Jamaica has a 90 percent cellphone penetration rate and Jamaicans talk on average of 1200 minutes per month. Currently The Irish-owned Digicel dominates the Jamaican mobile market, with twice as many subscribers (1.9 million) than the combined subscriber bases of the British C&W (660,000) and the Mexican MiPhone (250,000). In the past 12 months Miphone was bought for US$70million by the Mexican-based company America Movil owned by double digit billionaire Carlos Slim. 

Miphone, long labelled as the stepchild, third place holder in subscriber share, with mediocre phone service from a minimal amount of strained towers hardly islandwide – has started to flex its mouth and money fueled muscles. They now have 600 cell towers for islandwide coverage; switched to GSM and introducing 3G; they carry the exclusive rights for iPhone distribution to Jamaica; they have deeper pockets than Digicel, an axe already grinding about Digicel to telecom regulatory body Office of Utilities Regulation(OUR) and a big hairy goal of becoming number one within three years.

Let the games begin.

The billion dollar question is though, can Miphone dethrone Digicel the king of cellphones in Jamaica? Digicel was the company that rolled out the cellphone buffet in front of Jamaicans, who were being starved by Cable & Wireless’s meaningless monopoly-why would they ditch the saviour and long time friend who’s treated them well (consistently good customer service, community support and much better prices than they’ve ever seen) for a newbie bearing big brother type chat and trailer loads of cash? Would it only take some money to make Jamaicans walk and start talking on the MiPhone network? What do they bring to the pending cellphone war that should make Digicel and Cable & Wireless worry?

What does America Movi/Miphone have that Digicel and Cable & Wireless doesn’t ?

1. America Movil /MiPhone – has a subscriber base of 159.2 million people across Latin America and the Caribbean. So yeah, they know the business very well. Digicel and Cable & Wireless have six and five million respectively.The former is brash and nimble and makes an impressive entry in pretty much any market it jumps into. The latter is still punch drunk from having left the walled garden that was their monopoly, into an unfamiliar place and pace where competition and consumer demands rule.

2. Apple’s newest cellular device, the iPhone 3G, which they will introduce in a few months. Note here, that lots of early adopters have already cracked and are using their iPhones on both Digicel and Cable & Wireless networks. A mass introduction is yet to happen, but is a mass adoption possible or even a goal?

3. Lots of money and nothing to lose. America Movil/MiPhone already has spent US$250 million for the first year of operation and they have lots more where that came from. Add to that, they are already coming the position of third place in the market, they can’t fall any further.

What Digicel have that America Movil/MiPhone and Cable & Wireless doesn’t ?

1. First things first they have 1.9 million subscribers and they did it in 7 years.

2. A strong saviour factor. It’s not so much that any company that came after the 50 year Cable & Wireless imprisonment would have looked good to Jamaicans, it’s that Digicel played the right cards.They served up choice- the choice between them and Cable & Wireless, the choice of various phones affordable and high end and a choice of calling plans with significantly lower rates.The choice between a company that seemed to didn’t care about their consumers and one that fawned over them.

3. Digicel is in Jamaicans blood. Because of the saviour factor coupled with the fact that Digicel dug deep into the hearts, minds and communities of Jamaicans and haven’t let go for 7 years, for that there is a strong relationship bond and brand that is Digicel. I believe that while the market can be price sensitive, can price alone will be the 7 year itch that hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans will scratch and switch to MiPhone?

What does Cable & Wireless have that Digicel and America Movil/MiPhone doesn’t ?

1. LOL, and for those of you not familiar with that. LOL=laughing out loud.

2. Great buyout potential. Any takers?

 In short, it’s gonna be a great ride for Jamaican mobile subscribers who will be the center of attention, for the Mexican suitor and the Irish man. Will Jamaicans choose a Mojito or a Guiness? Time will tell.

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