O'Brien's mobile phone firm in Haiti buys rival operator

Denis O’Brien’s Digicel mobile phone group in Haiti has acquired rival operator Communication Cellulaire d’Haiti, which operates…

Denis O’Brien’s Digicel mobile phone group in Haiti has acquired rival operator Communication Cellulaire d’Haiti, which operates under the brand name Voilà.

The transaction closed on March 30th but no sum was disclosed. Digicel said the two companies would continue to be run separately.

Voilà is a wireless operator with more than one million customers. It has 600 staff and has invested more than $250 million in Haiti since its launch in 1999. The company was owned by US-based, privately-owned Trilogy International Partners, which also has mobile operations in New Zealand, Bolivia and the Dominican Republic.

Digicel launched in Haiti in 2005 and has more than 3.5 million customers there. Haiti is Digicel’s single biggest market in the Caribbean in terms of subscriber numbers.

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Digicel has invested more than $600 million in Haiti and chief executive Colm Delves said the acquisition of Voilà would lead to “increased investment in even better mobile services and new technology”.

Ciarán Hancock

Ciarán Hancock

Ciarán Hancock is Business Editor of The Irish Times