Tuesday, July 1, 2008 – Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea: Digicel, the fastest- growing mobile operator in the Pacific, visited the team of volunteer heart specialists from Australia at Port Moresby General Hospital last week to present K10,000.00 towards the Operation Open Heart Program.

The Digicel team also visited the Childrens Ward 7 A at the Post Moresby General Hospital to distribute soft toys to the young children recovering from closed heart surgery. The Operation Open Heart Program has proven to be a success every year, giving dozens of young children and adults with serious heart defects the chance to live. Dr. Tefuarani from Port Moresby and volunteer doctors from Australia were busy scanning children at the Sir Buri Kidu Heart Foundation before selecting them to go into surgery with the Operation Open Heart Programme when the Digicel team paid their suprise visit. Children recovering from the closed heart operation were given soft cuddly toys to help make their recoovery a little more pleasant and it sure put a smile to their faces.

Dr. Tefuarani, Head of the Cardiatric Ward, at Port Moresby Hospital thanked Digicel for their kind gesture towards the Operation Open Heart Program saying: “We are very happy that Digicel has, for the second year, once again committed to this worthy life saving cause by donating to Operation Open Heart. We need donations such as these to keep the Programme going and to help save the lives of these very sick children. Thank you Digicel.”

When presenting the cheque, Rizsa Miguel; Digicel PNG Head of Customer Care, said: “We are delighted to be able to help Operation Open Heart and through them the children with heart defects in PNG. Many of these children would not have survived without this initiative which comes straight from the hearts of the doctors who come here every year on a voluntary basis to conduct these life saving operations. Thank you and we wish you all the best with the operations coming up. You can count on Digicel’s continued support!”

Since launching in Papua New Guinea on July 20, 2007 Digicel is committed to giving back to the community through various community development projects. Digicel is actively involved with the non profit organisation, WeCARe, who take care of disadvantaged children in the settlements of Port Moresby, Susu Mamas through the free hotline 7200 MAMA (7200 6262), PNG Business Coalition Against HIV and Aids (BAHA) through the free HIV Infoline 7200 BAHA (7200 2242) and only last week launched a joint competiton with World Vision to promote Tuberculosis (TB) awareness in PNG.

ENDS

ABOUT DIGICEL

Since its launch in the South Pacific in November 2006, Digicel has become the fastest-growing mobile operator in the Pacific, with current operations in Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea. The company was recently granted a license by the Government of Fiji and has commitments from several other countries in the Pacific.

Digicel has contributed to the 0.7% growth to the GDP[1] of Papua New Guinea since its launch as the second mobile operator on July 20, 2007.

Digicel is the largest operator in the Caribbean operating in 23 markets and rolling out new operations in Central America. The company is renowned for competitive rates, unbeatable coverage, and superior customer care, a wide variety of products and services, and state-of-the-art handsets.

Digicel is proud sponsor of several national rugby teams across the South Pacific including; Fiji Rugby, Digicel Fiji Sevens, Digicel Pacific Islanders Rugby Team and the Digicel Pukpuks. For more information, please visit http://www.digicelpacific.com/.

ENDS