DIGICEL JAMAICA REPORTS STRONG GROWTH IN DATA AND 4G SUBSCRIBERS CEO, Barry O’Brien Says Data Penetration up 40%, Data Plan Subscription up 50%

Kingston, Jamaica – Monday, March 3, 2014

  Digicel Jamaica is reporting strong double-digit growth in data revenues and data plan subscribers over the last quarter ending December 2013. This, according to CEO, Barry O’Brien, is due to effective strategies over the past year to deliver value, choice and innovation to all its customers across Jamaica.

Data Gains from Investment

Speaking about the gains made in data, the telecommunications company is reporting a 40% increase in data penetration, which was broadly facilitated by a focused strategy designed to ensure that more people across Jamaica have access to affordable smartphones and data plans. “More and more customers are realising that when they purchase a data plan they manage their data spend better and their overall data experience”, O’Brien said. The company also said that customers have been responding favourably to its range of affordable data plans which start from as low as J$70 for two days. In fact, the number of data subscriptions has increased by 50%.

Meanwhile, following the introduction of its own line of smartphones in the market over the past year, the company is also reporting very positive uptake from customers who want access to the internet on more affordable mobile devices. “What we are seeing is that customers are moving towards Android based smartphones. To that end, last year we introduced the Digicel range of Android smartphones (DL600 and DL700) and these are currently doing far better than traditional smartphones like Samsung, Nokia and BlackBerry in terms of sales,” added O’Brien. In the last 2 months for example, Digicel said it sold over 28,000 of its smartphones while during the past year, well over 60,000 were sold.

4G Mobile Expansion to 92% Population Coverage

The company is also reporting an increase of an additional 200,000 subscribers to its 4G mobile network, which they say is broadly due to continuous investment. “We recognize that there is a growing appetite for access to the internet and access to data and we are happy to be facilitating this demand. As such, Digicel is in the process of rolling out an additional 170 4G mobile sites across the island which will see us increasing our 4G network coverage from 80% to 92% population coverage.

“In the past year, we invested over $6 billion in our 4G network, and this is in addition to an investment of J$7b over two years ago. We will continue to innovate while ensuring stability of our network to deliver superior experiences for all our customers as we move Jamaica to being a smarter economy”, closed O’Brien.