Digicel customers in St Mary, St Thomas and Portland now have superfast LTE mobile Internet service to do more streaming, uploading and downloading up to 10 times faster than ever before.

In announcing the significant development, CEO of Digicel Jamaica, Allison Philbert, highlighted that the company now has LTE service in all 14 parishes.

“Our LTE service is built for speed, coverage and superior quality, and we are very excited that customers in every parish are now able to use it to experience more of the things they love to do online. This is about ensuring that our expanded LTE network gives our customers the freedom to live their best digital lives,” Philbert commented.

Philbert explained that reliable rural broadband service is a lifeline to quality of life and spreading economic opportunity for everyone to participate in the modern economy and digital society that Digicel is helping to develop. It is for this reason that Digicel is building on its proven ability to use modern mobile technology to connect rural Jamaica with the rest of the digital world — similar to when it introduced cellular telephone service to many rural towns in 2001.

With LTE service now available in the booming communities of Christiana in Manchester and Browns Town in St Ann, customers in these areas now enjoy a more seamless high-speed mobile broadband experience while on the go.

Looking ahead, Philbert projects that with faster mobile broadband speeds, a free LTE SIM upgrade and LTE handset deals now on offer, added to a recent increase in data allotments to most prepaid plans, smartphone users will be in for a real treat. They’ll be able to watch more videos in high-Definition, use multiple apps simultaneously, quickly connect to e-commerce and e-Gov websites, and enjoy streaming music and sports content from popular local apps like D’Music, SportsMax and the new MyDigicel app, where they can Shake to Win from a pool of over $40 million in cash and prizes this Christmas season.

From a business perspective, LTE service to Jamaica’s easternmost parishes makes rural farms and companies of all sizes less isolated and more competitive by giving them faster access to markets, locally and overseas. Other spin-offs include higher income per capita, greater access to health care and education opportunities.

“Our expansion into more rural areas reflects our continued commitment to improving our customers’ experience by upgrading our LTE network and enabling them to stay connected in more places,” Philbert stated.

Having deployed Jamaica’s first LTE network in June 2016, Digicel said it is now closing in on its target of 100 per cent Internet penetration within the shortest time possible.