DIGICEL Group chairman Denis O’Brien has grown his fortune to US$5.2 Billion, according to Forbes.

O’Brien places 233 on the magazine’s latest annual tally of billionaires, down from 205 last year, when he was reportedly worth US$5 billion.

The publication attributed O’Brien’s wealth primarily to Digicel, his telecommunication business which is headquartered in Jamaica and operates throughout the Caribbean, Central America and the Pacific Islands.

“Despite substantial debt, the company boosted subscribers and revenue in the last fiscal year. Now O’Brien is looking toward Myanmar, as easing sanctions on that former dictatorship open up millions of potential customers,” noted the magazine.

Digicel broke the telecommunications monopoly in Jamaica 13 years ago when the company paid US$47 million for a cell licence following an auction. It is now the leading cell provider in Jamaica and has 11 million customers across its 32 markets.

The company increased its subscriber base by 27 per cent to 12.8 million over the financial year ending March 31, 2012, reporting US$1.1 billion ($96.3 billion) EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation) for the period. The EBITDA represented a 13 per cent jump year-on-year, while revenues were up by 14 per cent to US$2.54 billion.

Digicel opened the doors to its new 210,000-square-foot global headquarters on the downtown Kingston waterfront last month. The property houses a 11-storey office tower; a 7,000 square-foot food court; and a 11,000 square-foot two-storey ancillary building over a basement car park.

Outside of telecoms, O’Brien also has interest in the hospitality industry. In fact, Digicel Group last year began to build what is touted as Haiti’s first four-star branded hotel, a US$45-million project expected to help boost the country’s economy. Digicel is responsible for designing and building the hotel and chose Marriott International’s signature Marriott Hotels & Resorts brand as its operating partner under a long-term management agreement.

Forbes also recognised O’Brien, 54, for his corporate citizenry, particularly in earthquake-ravaged Haiti, where Digicel has built nearly 100 schools and says it plans to build 50 more in the next year, the magazine said.

“The son of a human rights activist, O’Brien says, ‘We’re not robber barons.’ He tries to operate his companies on an 80 per cent business, 20 per cent philanthropy ethic,” said the world renown publication.

A record 1,426 people around the world made the billionaires list, up 16 per cent from last year. Their average net worth was US$3.8 billion, rising three per cent from 2012. The total net worth for the list’s billionaires was US$5.4 trillion compared with US$4.6 trillion a year ago, reported the Associated Press.

The US continued to house the most billionaires in the world, with 442 of them. It was followed by the Asia-Pacific region, with Europe rounding out the top three.

There were 210 new faces on the list, with Forbes saying many were helped by rebounding equity markets and strong consumer brands.

Mexico’s Carlos Slim remains the world’s richest man for the fourth year in a row, according to Forbes, while Warren Buffett dropped out of the top three for the first time since 2000.

Slim’s net worth increased to US$73 billion from US$69 billion a year earlier. Bill Gates of Microsoft held on to second place with a net worth of US$67 billion.

Berkshire Hathaway’s Buffett slipped to the fourth spot with a US$53.5-billion net worth. Buffett was surpassed by Spanish clothier Amancio Ortega, who jumped two spots from 2012 with a net worth of US$57 billion.

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg saw his ranking drop 31 spots as his net worth declined by US$4.2 billion.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press