DIGICEL BARS STOLEN PHONES TO REDUCE THEFT

Kingston, Jamaica - October 27, 2008: Digicel has recently introduced additional safety measures to protect its approximately 2 million mobile customers. The mobile giant now has the ability to bar lost or stolen handsets.

Cell phone theft has become a national concern and about 15,000 handsets are reported lost or stolen to Digicel's Customer Care Centre each month. It is against this background that Digicel has decided to install these measures to clamp down on stolen cell phone usage on its network. They are confident that this move will put a dent in the theft of mobiles.

 "Handset barring means the customer has full control of his phone. If the customer is not in possession of his handset, no one else will be able to use it once it has been barred." says, Abbi-Gaye O'Harris Digicel's Mediation & Roaming Manager.

Prior to this, Digicel was only able to bar usage of the customer's SIM card in instances where phones were lost or stolen; safeguarding the number and credit for use at a later date.  However, by accessing this new, free service, Digicel's mobile customers can now ensure, and rest assured that if their instrument is stolen or lost, the actual phone cannot be used to make calls on the Digicel network; not even if the SIM card is replaced.

Barring one's handset can be effected by making a telephone call to a Digicel Customer Care Agent who will take the customer through the established verification process. Once it is established that the customer is the legitimate owner of the handset, it will be barred from future use on Digicel's Network upon request.

In phase two of the project, Digicel aims to establish connectivity with the other carriers serving the island. When that is done, handsets that are barred by other GSM networks will also be locked out from Digicel's network.