Digicel claims it will stay close to its core business of service delivery rather than venture into content development media ownership.

That is according to The Jamaica Gleaner, which quotes Colm Delves, CEO of the Digicel Group, as denying the company will buy into Caribbean media to leverage its strength in the region and expand conversion technologies.

"We know what we are good at, and we don't want to stretch ourselves too thin," Mr. Delve told journalists at a luncheon to introduce the head of the group's Jamaican operation and former head of Digicel Bermuda, David Hunter.

While Digicel's Caribbean managers say the firm has no aspirations towards getting into media, in Ireland, Digicel's owner, Dennis O'Brien is lining up a take-over of media group Independent News and Media, said the paper.

There is, however, no evidence of a strategic plan by Mr. O'Brien to link the two if he is successful in acquiring Independent, it added.

Digicel began rolling out its services in 2001, after Irishman Mr. O'Brien paid $45 million to acquire a mobile telephone licence in Jamaica, which was liberalising its market to end decades of monopoly by the British company, Cable & Wireless.

Digicel, which in incorporated in Bermuda, now operates in 23 Caribbean markets, while Mr. O'Brien has also ventured into the Pacific region and Central America.

Digicel, the paper said, has nearly six million subscribers in the Caribbean and for its financial year, to the end of March 2007 reported revenue of over $1.1 billion. It projected revenue for the year just ended to reach close to $1.5 billion.