Digicel set to invest USD334 million in Panamanian operations

According to The Jamaica Observer, Digicel will invest USD334 million in its Panamanian subsidiary after the operator bagged the country’s third GSM licence in May 2008; Digicel Panama won the licence with a bid of USD86 million. The funds are to be used for the construction of network infrastructure, and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a private financing arm of the World Bank, is also reported to be involved with the project. It is understood that the IFC is planning to provide financing of up to USD50 million, and plans to assist Digicel in developing further new initiatives designed to increase access in rural and low income urban areas. The IFC has also highlighted the key challenges for the scheme, noting ‘the high cost of rural network deployment is a key barrier to increasing rural penetration in many developing countries including Panama’.