A dispute has ignited between telecommunications companies Digicel and LIME after Digicel accused its rival of overcharging its customers.
Digicel requested that the Information and Communications Technology Authority investigate the company, saying it discovered “unusual calling patterns to LIME numbers” across 12 Caribbean markets and expressed concerns customers may be “improperly charged for calls to certain LIME numbers.”
LIME Cayman Chief Executive Officer Bill McCabe hit back, saying the issue was a case of “sour grapes.”
“As far as I am concerned, there has never been an issue, I have never received any complaints,” Mr. McCabe said.
Information and Communications Technology Authority Acting Managing Director Glen Daykin said the authority had received correspondence from Digicel on Friday “and has written back to them on this matter.”
“The Authority has a well-established, fair process to deal with such matters as set out in our dispute resolution regulations,” Mr. Daykin said. “Those regulations set out an established procedure to allow both parties to a dispute to put forward their views to the Authority before the Authority then takes its view.
“When dealing with any grievance between licensees, including this one, to enable both parties a fair opportunity to make representations to the ICTA, the Authority would follow the procedures and time lines as specified in the previously mentioned Dispute Resolution Regulations.”
Digicel Cayman Chief Executive Officer Chris Hayman said the company had tried to work with LIME since November to rectify the issue.
“Digicel is now turning to the regulator and requesting that it launch an investigation into the matter and move to ensure the problem is solved and bring an end to the improper charging for calls to certain LIME numbers,” Mr. Hayman said.
“As such, we have no other choice but to ask the regulator to intervene as quickly as possible so that we can ensure that customers’ credit is safe.”
LIME CEO Martin Roos said Digicel was simply “mischief making.”
“There is absolutely no substance to Digicel’s claims about overcharging, and we will be communicating this to the regulators,” Mr. Roos said. “The claims made by Digicel were resolved from as early as January 2014. Any charges made in error have been immediately corrected by LIME, as part of usual settlement practices between ourselves and other operators.”
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