Ericsson provides Digicel’s Latin American EDGE

Swedish vendor Ericsson has been contracted by pan-Caribbean operator Digicel Group to provide nationwide GPRS/EDGE networks in El Salvador and Guatemala, with commercial deployment expected in the next three months. Digicel, based in Jamaica and backed by Irish capital, purchased the Salvadoran cellco Digicel (no relation) in October last year for an undisclosed sum, gaining a GSM network and an estimated 222,000 subscribers in El Salvador, plus an unused GSM licence in neighbouring Guatemala. Digicel’s planned network in El Salvador will be the country’s most advanced; currently only Telefónica’s Movistar operates a GPRS network, which is not EDGE-ready. The technological competition in Guatemala may be stiffer; Millicom’s Comcel has operated a GPRS/EDGE network since August 2005 and has close to two million subscribers, and Telefónica’s Movistar commercially launched a 3G CDMA2000 1xEV-DO network a month later.