Digicel Jamaica on Friday announced that the number of its subscribers who use smartphones surpassed one million last December, reflecting a 20 per cent growth during the last three months of 2014.

According to the telecommunications giant, this latest milestone means that more than 45 per cent of its subscriber base now use smartphones.

This, Digicel Jamaica said, is well ahead of the 20 per cent smartphone penetration across Latin America and the Caribbean reported by Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA) last year.

Formed in 1995, GSMA is comprised of almost 800 of the world’s mobile operators and more than 200 related companies devoted to supporting the standardising, deployment and promotion of GSM mobile telephone system.

On Friday, Digicel said that growth in smartphone penetration on its network is due, in large part, to the company’s focus on driving broadband use by providing affordable devices, such as its range of DL smartphones, which are priced at least 30 per cent below other smartphones sold with similar features, speed and display size in Jamaica.

“Offering affordable smartphones, which provide a wide range of features, has been a key pillar of our ‘Internet Everywhere’ goal,” a company release quotes CEO Barry O’Brien. “The recent expansion of our 4G data network, which now covers 92 per cent of our population, has also been critical to our drive to increase broadband penetration in Jamaica.”

The Digicel news release reported Technology Minister Phillip Paulwell as saying that its achievement of a million smartphone subscribers demonstrates the company’s ability to move in tandem with the advancement of the technology while enhancing Jamaica’s standing in the global telecommunications market.

“Since its entry into Jamaica, Digicel has brought healthy competition, affordable product prices and calling rates, and quality service,” the release quoted Paulwell. “Going forward, we expect the company to continue its positive engagement of its loyal customers while contributing to the growth and development of our country.”

The telecommunications company said that it also managed to encourage greater appetite for smartphones by increasing the amount of online content that its subscribers can access free of charge.

Recently, Digicel partnered with Wikimedia to enable its subscribers to browse the largest collection of free knowledge ever assembled on the web — Wikipedia — without them having to subscribe to a data plan or being charged.

“Mobile phones are now an essential part of learning,” said O’Brien. “Bringing Wikipedia’s knowledge base to our customers at no charge is a major step for education in Jamaica, and we have been receiving extremely positive feedback on this initiative.”