TELECOMMUNICATIONS company Digicel has reported what it called “phenomenal success”, one week after launching its new calling plans to customers across Jamaica.

The company has said that customers are generally excited about the new plans.

According to Digicel, its new $2.99 per minute plan, billed per second, to any mobile network in Jamaica has been creating a lot of buzz in the market. This, the company said, is so because when customers talk for five minutes on an international call, they get the next 25 minutes free on that call.

“This plan is very attractive to our customers who like to get a low rate to call any mobile network in Jamaica, plus because we know people talk for longer on international calls, the value that we offer is resonating with them,” stated Digicel Jamaica chief executive offficer, Barry O’Brien.

“In fact, since the launch of the $2.99 Plan, 44 per cent of international voice minutes are now free. The feedback has been extremely positive with customers recognising that this is the best $2.99 choice, and the very best international value, as there is nothing else like this in the market,” O’Brien added.

Digicel revealed that a majority of its customers had chosen the Digicel Brawta, and Gimme 5 Extra, as their plans of preference.

Among the benefits of Digicel’s plans are:

* Send 5 Digicel texts and get the next 200 Digicel texts free that day, worth $600;

* Talk for 5 minutes and get the next 55 minutes on that call free for Digicel to Digicel calls;

* Talk for 5 minutes and get the next 55 minutes on that call free to US and Canada mobile and landlines, and UK landlines;

* Top up with $200 and get free nighttime calls and 10MB data, from 11:00 pm that night to 6:00 am the next day;

* $100 monthly bonus credit to call anyone, anywhere when customers top up with $100 or more on their first top-up.

Digicel, generally accepted as the leading company in cellular phone usage in Jamaica, also reported a jump by 48 per cent in text messages being sent on the company’s network over the past week, with 92 per cent of the SMS sent by its customers now being free.

“The excitement around the 200 free text messages is phenomenal. Thousands of customers are opting in to the new Gimme 5 Extra Plan,” O’Brien said, while announcing that over 200 million text messages sent over the Digicel network in the last week were free.

In addition, the company said that customers can opt in to any of the six new plans by dialling *156#, or get more information by texting 222 to 137.

The company announced the new plans over a week ago, following customer research and feedback. The plans are the $2.99 Plan, the Brawta Plan, the Gimme 5 Extra Plan and the Double Bubble Plan – all based on per second billing. These plans are suited for customers who make quick calls and enjoy receiving free minutes, texts and data. The other two plans — the $2.49 and the $2.89 Plans, are based on per minute billing and are designed for customers who make long calls on a regular basis.

Digicel said that customers have responded positively to all of the choices now available to them, as now they can choose the plan that best suits their text, talk and data habits.

O’Brien, responding to a claim by its competitor, LIME, that it had sold 20,000 handsets in a recent sale, said: “They had reported 40 per cent growth in their subscriber numbers at December 2012, however in their most recent financial statements they have declared this to be only 16 per cent. This would mean that either the original information was inaccurate or LIME has actually lost customers in the intervening period.

“Last week we increased market share, recording the highest sale of handsets in one day driven by our handset promotions, coupled with our great value choices options. These have proven to be a very effective magnet for new customers upgrading from the other network, and joining our over two million-strong Digicel family.

Digicel also reported significant increases in new handset activations in the parishes of St Ann and St James, driven, it said, by LIME customers upgrading to Digicel due to major outages across these parishes on the LIME network.

Digicel, founded 12 years ago, serves over 13 million customers in 31 countries spread across the Caribbean, Central America and the Pacific.