DAVID Butler is to leave his role as chief executive officer of Digicel Panama to become CEO of Digicel Jamaica. Meanwhile, former CEO Barry O’Brien is to be promoted to a regional role.

The telecommunications company on Thursday announced that O’Brien will be appointed director of business development for Digicel Caribbean and Central America and board director for Digicel Barbados and will be replaced by Butler who will be transitioning into the role over the next few weeks.

Butler joins Digicel Jamaica with more than 12 years of telecoms and technology sector experience and comes to Jamaica from his current position as CEO for Digicel Panama. He started his career with Digicel in the eastern Caribbean in 2003 and has held the position of CEO for Digicel FIJI, Tonga and Vanuatu in the Pacific region.

“I am thrilled to be joining the Digicel Jamaica team and I’m looking forward to taking up the mantle of delivering the best value, best service and best network to our family of over two million customers across the island,” Butler stated in a release from Digicel.

“Having started my Digicel career in the eastern Caribbean almost 11 years ago, and been all around the world since, I am very excited to be coming back to the home of Digicel in Jamaica,” he added.

Over the last seven years, O’Brien has served as CEO for Digicel Barbados and regional CEO for Digicel in Barbados, Dominica, St Lucia, Grenada and St Vincent.

During his tenure, Digicel acquired regional broadcaster SportsMax TV and cable company, Telstar. It also deployed a state-of-the-art Fibre to the Business (FttB) network and launched mobile advertising services. The company plans to build out an island-wide digital cable and home broadband network within three years.

The acquisition of Telstar and the island-wide expansion of its cable footprint will position the telecommunications firm to enter the subscriber TV market; push its broadband Internet business; and eventually offer fixed-line services.

In 2013, O’Brien was promoted as CEO for Digicel Jamaica, replacing Andy Thorburn who was appointed CEO for the Caribbean and Central America. He assumes his new post with over two decades of experience in the telecommunications industry.

“I am very excited about my new role which will enable me to examine and grow new and existing businesses across the Caribbean and Central America as Digicel continues to evolve as a total global communications provider,” O’Brien stated.