Saying Friday that Jamaica will be cemented as hub of its regional operations, LIME Caribbean announced that as much as a quarter of a designated pool of capital will be poured into the island, already its most lucrative market.

The capital programme will wrap up in 2010 across the company's 13 Caribbean markets.

At 25 per cent, Jamaica will get US$100 million (J$8.6 billion) of the total US$400 million investment, because, said LIME Caribbean chief executive officer Richard Dodd, "We're committed to continuing to keep Jamaica as the core hub for our Caribbean regional business," he said.

It's not clear how the other US$300 million is being prioritised, but, assuming each country gets an equal share, LIME's other 12 markets would get US$25 million each.

LIME Caribbean's top man, Richard Dodd, joined Jamaica country manager Geoff Houston to announce plans here, in a demonstration of the importance attached to this market.

Dodd works out of Barbados, from where the company's new pan-Caribbean business model is being rolled out.

His visit also comes in the middle of a series of lawsuits and countersuits between Digicel, LIME Jamaica and Claro Jamaica, in an increasingly litigious environment and a deepening of rivalries between the 'Mobile 3'.

Latest suit

The latest suit was filed by Digicel in the Supreme Court in Kingston in a complaint against LIME Jamaica's pricing structure for its Homefone product.

"Digicel expects that a successful outcome to this legal action will result in lower prices for consumers," the Irish-owned company said in a release.

Dodd's visit also comes amid swirling rumours that the three rivals were in takeover talks to buy out each other.

The LIME executives sought to lay at least one of those to rest, saying the Jamaican operation was not for sale.

The investment being rolled out now is an indication that LIME, whose ultimate parent is Cable and Wireless in the United Kingdom, plans to face off against its rivals, at least for now.

No secret

"I think it's no secret that our business in Jamaica has been challenged, especially in the last two or three years, but I am delighted to say that the restoration and strengthening of our Jamaica business is progressing extremely well," said Dodd.

The company began its transformation last year by rebranding under a new trading name, LIME, bringing a more youthful and fresh look through the use of colours.

As the hub, Jamaica will become the centre of the pan-Caribbean operation and home to LIME's Shared Service Centre.

The centre will handle finance, procurement and human-resource operations for all 13 markets, and once built out, will employ about 70-80 persons.

"... We've sited it here in Jamaica because this country has a very substantial skills base and a labour pool which suits us extremely well for that kind of activity," said Dodd.

LIME Jamaica has since last year been building out a new 3G network, is looking to new market segments to grow the company.

Part of its strategy includes direct outreach and corporate sponsorships, with US$5 million set aside for the latter.

Rebranding working

So far, the rebranding and more 'personalised' image seems to be working. Indeed, Houston said Christmas sales jumped 40 per cent for the company.

Conceding that service has not always been adequate, the CEO said the number-one objective of the transformation is to move from being "consistently inconsistent", to providing the level of service that customers demand.

This will see the introduction of more cutting-edge technology on its 3G network and new and more competitively priced services, such as wireless broadband for consumers.

LIME Jamaica also plans to enter the subscriber television or cable market - which requires a licence from the Broadcasting Commission - but the company says negotiations are ongoing.

mark.titus@gleanerjm.com