Digicel Jamaica this week extended its $2.95-per-minute plan to mobile calls to US, Canada and UK landlines, while offering free social networking on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to its mobile data customers.

In a news release on Tuesday, the telecoms company said the moves were driven by customer demands. The extension of the $2.95 plan took effect on Tuesday and does not require customers to buy a one-month data plan, while the free social network service started on Wednesday.

“We continue to listen to our customers’ demands. They want the lowest rates, more international calling time, and more free data services. They want better value,” the release quoted Digicel Jamaica’s CEO Barry O’Brien.

The company explained that its decision to introduce free social networking on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter was influenced by higher demand for data services and more widescale social networking among Jamaicans, plus the fact that 25 per cent of the company’s data traffic is attributed to all three social media platforms.

“With our customers getting increasingly hooked on social networks we decided to introduce offerings, namely our Starter Plus Plans, which allow subscribers to use Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, without them cutting into customers’ data plan allowances,” said O’Brien. “We’re reducing the price of data for the average user by up to a third, so you pay for what you use.”

The company said that as of November 5, 2014, data plans “will allow users to surf, stream and share on Digicel’s superfast 4G network for as low as $40 a day. Customers can also roll over their unused data for plans which are two days or longer”.

Added O’Brien: “With the recent launch of our affordable and feature-rich Digicel DL750 smartphone starting from as low as $10,950 prepaid, our customers can now easily upgrade to a smartphone to readily experience Digicel’s attractive and affordable suite of 4G mobile data plans. Moreover, we will be introducing the DL800 and the DL900 later this month to ensure that customers have access to the latest smartphones and wider range of offering.”

The company also said that its “Sweet Plan will continue to provide subscribers with the lowest per-minute mobile call rate of $2.89, while the Gimme 5 Plan will now give users 500 free texts after they send five texts within any given day”.