Mark Linehan, Digicel's 4G Man

Barbara Ellington, Lifestyle Editor

Digicel erupted on the Jamaican telecommunications landscape some 10 years ago and things have not been the same since. It continues to delight and excite customers with a range of offerings, the latest of which is its 4G broadband Internet connectivity. The launch lived up to expectations, and four weeks later, subscribers are growing and the company is ironing out the kinks reported by customers.

With 75 per cent market share, Digicel continues to make good progress in Jamaica, even with increased competition. Its subscriber base has continued to grow by three per cent and underlying revenues by two per cent, year on year. Overall, the Digicel Group is fully funded, with 11 million subscribers across all 32 markets.

Outlook spoke with Mark Linehan, head of Digicel Jamaica, about the recently launched 4G broadband Internet technology as well as a range of issues related to the ongoing operations of the group in its locations in the Caribbean and the world.

The coverage of the 4G broadband technology, to date, is 60 per cent, but it takes time to understand customer behaviour in order to optimise capacity and better understand usage.

"We launched with a particular footprint so we now need to optimise the WiMax site so we can expand the coverage. We have to tweak and expand the network. We have been getting feedback and responding to it," Linehan said.

Internet penetration

Outlook received word from some customers that in various stores islandwide, the message about the new service was inconsistent in spite of 100 stores reconfigured to meet the new demand. But Linehan said both dealers and staff had been trained with the "plug, pay, go" message prior to its launch.

"The product is new and staff is still learning, but lots of time has been put into educating those who are selling the product."

He added that customers can purchase laptops at over 50 Digicel dealer stores across the island.

To maximise Internet penetration, Digicel is ensuring that as many people as possible have access to and benefit from its 4G broadband by partnering with Courts, the National Commercial Bank (NCB) and credit unions across Jamaica to offer financing plans for computers, laptops, netbooks and modems. Some customers would prefer to buy the laptops directly from Digicel but Linehan said selling PCs is not the group's business.

There have not been many customer complaints to date. Each store has a map that shows customers, whether there is service in a particular area. When calls come in re availability of service, the company sets about providing it as quickly as possible.

"We are trying to execute this as seamlessly as possible, so even after connection, when the devices don't work, they can be returned."

economic growth

At the launch, one of the strong selling points of the new 4G technology was that it would significantly impact the gross domestic product (GDP) and boost the business sector of the country. Linehan told Outlook that with increased access to the Internet, businesses can now execute online sales and achieve broader revenue streams, manage costs better and increase sales. It will mean access to more suppliers, better prices for goods and services as 4G broadband Internet connectivity will open up massive opportunities for businesses to sell products and services online.

"For businesses that were not pushing their services online, this is a great way to do so in today's global economy. The speed of 4G is faster than others; the next technology is Long Term Evolution (LTE) - the fifth-generation technology that is still in its testing phase. When LTE becomes available in a few years, it will be faster than 4G - the fastest available technology for now. Linhan said the company looked at 3G but decided to go with what would suit Jamaica's needs best.

For every 10 per cent increase in broadband penetration, there is an increase of between 0.9 and 1.5 per cent increase in GDP, which will mean growth for Jamaica.

"Opportunities will also now President of the Inter-Secondary School Sports, Association, Dr Walton Small, receives a netbook and 4G-powered wireless Internet devices from Digicel's head of marketing, Donovan White.


begin to open up for young, talented minds who can seize the chance to offer new online businesses to the 410,000 homes that now have access to the Internet. It will also mean that students can now have access to the world's biggest library," Linehan said.

Jamaica can now join the 21st-century knowledge economy and even be ahead of many First-World countries.

Was the roll-out done in any of the group's 32 other countries simultaneously with Jamaica? Linehan said no, but similar technology was introduced in Cayman before and it is now looking at some of the bigger markets in the region. The focus is getting Jamaica going and so far even entertainment has been positively impacted and a music video can now be downloaded in fewer than 35 seconds.

Asked whether operations in Haiti had been back up to pre-earthquake speeds, he said the network remained operational throughout the January 12th earthquake.

"Since then, we have continued to enhance our network in Haiti and our business there is performing really well. With increased market share of 71 per cent, Digicel Haiti has added 100,000 subscribers since end of December 2009 and this continues to grow month on month. International and domestic traffic levels also remain above pre-earthquake levels," he said.

Linehan says the 4G broadband connectivity provides faster access to all types of information and is the game changer to how everyone does business.

What more can Jamaicans look forward from the company? The latest BlackBerry devices, of course!