Digicel Cayman Sues Regulator and Government for Refund of Over $1.5 Million in ‘Unlawful’ Telecom Fees

By Alric Lindsay

In a bold escalation of a growing legal battle over telecommunications licensing fees, Digicel Cayman Ltd. has filed a lawsuit in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands seeking the repayment of more than CI$1.5 million (approximately US$1.8 million) in fees it claims were collected without legal authority. The claim, stamped by the Grand Court on November 25, 2025, is yet another action by a Cayman Islands telecom licensee against the Utility Regulation and Competition Office (OfReg) and the Attorney-General, representing the Cayman Islands Government, following a landmark court ruling that struck down the basis for these charges.

Digicel argues that OfReg and the government lacked statutory power to demand, collect, or retain the fees under its ICT Networks and ICT Services licences, which were granted in April 2021 pursuant to the Information and Communications Technology Act (2019 Revision).

At the heart of the dispute is the ICT (Validation) Act 2024, which Digicel contends only retroactively validated certain “Regulatory Fees” up to its commencement date but provided no basis for ongoing collections of either Regulatory Fees or “Royalty Fees” – the latter calculated as 6% of the company’s quarterly revenue. Post-commencement fees, Digicel asserts, are entirely unlawful until new legislation prescribes otherwise.

The legal catalyst was a recent Grand Court decision in The King v. The Utility Regulation and Competition Office, which ruled that OfReg had no legislative authority to impose or collect such Licence Fees. This follows a similar filing earlier this month by another Cayman telecom licensee which also challenged the fees on similar grounds, signalling potential ripple effects across the islands’ ICT sector.

Digicel, a major player in Cayman’s telecom landscape, has paid substantial sums since the Validation Act’s implementation, with portions remitted directly to government coffers. The writ specifies three disputed quarterly payments made after the Act’s expiration period, totaling CI$1,556,548.29:

These fees, Digicel claims, were extracted without due authority.

The suit arrives against a backdrop of regulatory flux in Cayman’s telecom sector, where Digicel competes fiercely. Industry watchers predict this could prompt legislative action – or further lawsuits – as licensees band together to recoup what they view as overreach. If Digicel prevails, it won’t just be about the money; it’ll force a rethink of government’s approach to “reengineering” rules so that it is not held accountable and, instead, laws are backdated to cure previous legal errors.

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