Above: Justin Morin, CEO, Digicel Jamaica. Photo by Ryan Mattis, courtesy Digicel.
As part of its mission to drive 100% internet penetration in Jamaica, Digicel is connecting communities across Jamaica to the very latest LTE (Long Term Evolution) mobile internet technology as it rolls out the service into the deeper reaches of rural Jamaica.
Having first introduced LTE to Jamaica in June 2016, Digicel has been steadily expanding the service, reaching the main towns and heavily-populated areas in nine parishes with internet speeds up to ten times faster than 4G.
With this new phase beginning next week, Digicel will cover larger sections of Clarendon, Manchester, St. Elizabeth, Hanover and Westmoreland – reaching into mainly farming communities and fast-growing towns.
With its sights set firmly on bridging the digital divide and catapulting Jamaica to the forefront of the knowledge economy, Digicel is spearheading the drive to ensure that all Jamaicans can take part in and benefit from transformational digital services like e-commerce, e-learning and e-government.
LTE is already allowing customers across major towns in Jamaica to do more via their mobile phones, such as make video calls and connect to streaming services like PlayGo and d’Music, while being able to upload and download their videos at lightning speed. Customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with many reporting average speeds in excess of 30 megabits per second.
In its World Development Report (2016) the World Bank showed how a ten percentage point increase in broadband penetration can increase Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 1.38 percentage points in developing economies such as Jamaica. The same 2016 report indicated that Jamaica had achieved 60% internet penetration.
The Digicel CEO is making it his mission to give every Jamaican the opportunity to benefit from affordable broadband access and is making it easy for customers to get on board by offering a free upgrade to an LTE SIM at any Digicel store islandwide – as well as a great discount on an LTE-enabled smartphone at the super low price of just $3,950.
“Our vision is to see Jamaica grow from 60% internet penetration today to 100%; which means that this journey of LTE coverage expansion gives us a tremendous opportunity to use increased broadband penetration as one of the drivers of economic growth,” commented Justin Morin, CEO of Digicel Jamaica.
