As Convergencialatina anticipated yesterday, the Irish operator Digicel was awarded the tender conducted by the CONATEL (National Telecommunications Commission) for the fourth mobile telephone band in Honduras. The company, which obtained the concession for 25 years, submitted a bid of US$ 80.1 million, -according to official sources- the highest ever presented for this service in the country. This result must be ratified by the National Congress in the next few weeks and it is estimated that the company will have to invest another US$ 200 million to compete in the country.

The amount of the base bid was US$ 10 million and Digicel only competed against the Mexican Iusacell, who it largely surpassed because it only presented an offer of US$ 10.5 million. The other two companies that made up the group of the four pre-qualified companies last October, Movistar (Telefónica of Spain) and Cable & Wireless decided to withdraw from the competition.

Digicel announced that it will invest in a network and seeks to increase the level of penetration in this service from 38% today to 75% over the next five years. The company also plans to employ some 300 people, while about 7,000 people will work indirectly.

Once the results were disseminated, Luis Larocca, president of Digicel El Salvador, said that the local market has a great potential and, even though the company paid that price, he feels that this fourth mobile band costs more than $ 80.1 million. In addition, he anticipated that the company will "begin to establish infrastructure in the coming days" and that they intend to begin operating in the country in 2008.

With this victory, Digicel, which is present in 23 countries of Central America and the Caribbean, joined the competition to dominate the Honduran market – which registered 3.6 million (40% of the population) users through October 2007 - . There, the company will face Celtel (Tigo), who paid US$ 5.5 million for its license in 1996; Megatel (Claro), who invested US$ 7.1 million to enter the market in 2003, and Hondutel, the state company that got its concession through a decree in 2005.