Bermuda-based Digicel Group has agreed to buy out Cingular Wireless? operations in Bermuda and the Caribbean.

The deal, for an undisclosed price, is expected to close in the next few months pending regulatory approvals.

Under the terms of the purchase, Digicel will take on Cingular?s Caribbean interests including a 60 percent stake in the Bermuda operation.

Bermuda partner Charlie Marshall said yesterday he will continue to hold 40 percent of the operation through PM Ltd.

Cingular Bermuda is incorporated as a separate legal entity from the giant mobile telephone operator that is a joint venture of US telecoms SBC Communications and BellSouth Corp.

Like Cingular, Digicel operates on a GSM/GPRS network meaning little change in data and voice services, Digicel Group CEO Colm Delves said yesterday in a telephone interview.

The company does not plan any sweeping changes to staffing in the Bermuda operation, he added. And Digicel will continue to run a retail operation with Mr. Delves saying the group sells a wide range of the latest cellular models, hand-sets and accessories.

?We have competed against Cingular and AT&T Wireless [in other markets],? he said. We like to think we offer a wider range of products.?

A roaming agreement between Cingular and Digicel will enable customers continued access to mobile communications in both North America and the Caribbean at ?attractive rates?, a statement said.

Digicel incorporated in Bermuda in 2001 although this will be the first time the group has ever offered cellular telephone service on the Island.

Digicel first tapped into the Jamaica market and, in the four years since, has grown its business to include operations in Aruba, Barbados, Curacao, The Cayman Islands, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Digicel is the Caribbean?s fastest growing mobile telecommunications company, it said in a statement.

The deal will extend the group?s reach into five new markets: Bermuda, Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, Dominica and St. Kitts and Nevis.

In addition, the purchase expands the group?s business in Barbados, The Cayman Islands, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Cingular bids adieu to Bermuda after a short stint in the local market, with the operation being one of many it acquired after completing its landmark $41 billion purchase of AT&T Wireless last October. Cingular said in a statement that it was focusing its energies on its expanded US market from the AT&T buy-out.

Also up on the sales block are Cingular?s cellular licences in Curacao, Jamaica and the French West Indies.