Kingston -- Jan. 20, 2009 -- Digicel Group, the largest mobile operator in the Caribbean and new entrant to the Central American market, today introduced a Voluntary Separation Programme (VSP) for staff across 23 markets, designed to better align the organisation and overall cost structure with evolving economic conditions.

Digicel expects that approximately 10 percent of its workforce will avail of the enhanced terms of the Voluntary Separation Programme, allowing employees who may be considering a career change to leave the company voluntarily while receiving additional financial support and benefits.

Both full-time and part-time Digicel Employees will be eligible to receive enhanced packages based on years of service, as well as extended health cover, pro rata bonuses and accelerated payments for stock options.Digicel is also providing career transition assistance to the employees who participate in the scheme.

The Voluntary Separation Programme does not apply to newly launched markets such as the British Virgin Islands, Honduras and Panama or Digicel Pacific Ltd.

"Digicel has experienced phenomenal growth since its initial launch in 2001 and continues to evolve as a leading international mobile provider. We are now at a natural stage in our evolution to reassess our organizational structure, processes and to fully capture operational efficiencies,” said Colm Delves, Digicel Group CEO. “This is particularly relevant in the current challenging economic environment where all companies, including financially strong and fully funded companies such as Digicel, need to ensure that they have a lean and efficient structure to strengthen their financial position and protect plans for continued growth.

"In the past seven and a half years we have grown to be the largest mobile operator in the Caribbean, and we have done so by building an outstanding brand, investing in state of the art networks and are extremely fortunate to have such a dedicated and committed workforce” added Colm Delves.