Digicel is finally the official ?proud owner? of Bermuda?s Cingular Wireless operation after securing regulatory approval from Government and completing the acquistion with Cingular Wireless on September 2.

While the company remains in ?stealth mode? while it puts together its packages for the Island, J.D. Buckley, CEO for Digicel Cayman who is overseeing the integration of the Bermuda business into Digicel, said that the market can expect cellular prices to come down once the company settles in.

?We are always competitive in terms of pricing so we?ll ensure that we bring not only a great set of products and services but also very competitive rates to the market,? Mr. Buckley said. When pushed further on whether prices would definitely come down, he said: ?We will become even more competitive than we currently are.?

Over the coming weeks, Digicel will begin to introduce its brand to the business. For the moment the company is still working on putting its packages together before doing a rebrand and before becoming more visible to Bermudian customers. As such, the business is currently continuing to operate under the Cingular brand, but it will have a presence as a sponsor next week at the Bermuda Music Festival.

?There will be no immediate change to the services currently being provided by Cingular. We and Cingular have attributes in common products like Blackberry but also overtime we will add trademark products and services Digicel is famous for such as rollover minutes, 24 hour customer care and state of the art handsets,? Mr. Buckley said adding that consumers can rest assured that they will not have to make any changes to their phones and that the existing Cingular staff will continue under Digicel.

Colm Delves, Digicel Group CEO, said in a statement that the company?s vision to build a seamless wireless network across the Caribbean is fast becoming a reality.

?We are putting into place integration plans that have been developed with Cingular to ensure that the transition process is as seamless as possible for Cingular customers allowing them to keep their current benefits as well as enjoy Digicel?s broad range of innovative products and services,? he added.

Digicel?s increased pan-Caribbean GSM network now includes Bermuda, Anguilla, St Kitts & Nevis and Dominica. The company has also received regulatory approval for the acquisition of Cingular?s operations on the islands of Grenada, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines and is awaiting regulatory approval in the remaining markets of Barbados, the Cayman Islands and Antigua & Barbuda .

Digicel has also fully acquired the Cingular Wireless? licenses in Jamaica as well as network assets in the Netherlands Antilles island of Curaco where Digicel already operates following its acquisition of Curaco Telecom in March 2005. Digicel?s agreement with Cingular Wireless also includes the planned acquisition of Cingular?s licences in the French West Indies islands of St Martin, Guadeloupe, Martinique and St. Barths.