Diasporic Entrepreneurship in the Caribbean - Firm Profiles.pdf Vol 2 | Page 9

a. Digicel also sells a wide range of mobile
phones through the Digicel website and
through partner retail stores.

Part I:
Telecommunications Firms

2. Mobile Data Services – Digicel’s mobile data
service allows customers (subscribers) to access
and browse the internet including downloading
and using mobile applications. Digicel’s data
network is accessible both via conventional
computers and smartphones, tablets and PDAs.
a. Digicel also sells a wide range of smart
phones, modems, PDAs and tablets to
facilitate access to it network.

1. DIGICEL
Company Background:

3. Mobile Phone and Data credit – The majority
of company’s customers are prepaid customers,
i.e. they purchase “minutes” of talk time or data
usage time in pre-specified denominations, prior
to using the service. This prepaid service is able to
be purchased in several ways, as follows:

Digicel is a wireless telecommunications
company founded in 2001 by Irishman, Denis
O’Brien. The company currently operates
in 32 markets across the Caribbean, Central
America, and Oceania regions and has over 13
million customers. The company offers mobile
phone services to support both corporate and
individual customers, which include wireless
broadband, rollover minutes, GPRS data services,
prepaid roaming, SMS to e-mail, and multimedia
messaging. Digicel directly employs more than
5,500 people and operates in 32 markets in the
Caribbean and Central America.
Digicel’s has made a diverse range of, at times,
innovative product offerings available to its
subscribers. Some such offerings include persecond billing, online bill viewing, rollover
minutes, online refill of prepaid cards and bill
payment and data transmission & internet access
via the EDGE network, 3G and 4G technology.
Digicel was incorporated in Bermuda, with its
headquarters in in Jamaica. The company has
over 1,000 retail stores servicing the Caribbean
and Pacific regions, totaling an investment of
over US$4.5 billion.
Main Products/Services:
1. Mobile Voice telephony – Digicel provides
mobile phone network services which
allow customers (subscribers) to make and
receive telephone calls both within Digicel’s
own network as well as to the networks of
other telecoms providers worldwide. Digicel
operates both GSM and/or CDMA networks,
depending on the mobile infrastructure
present in the particular country.

a. Prepaid Calling Cards – customers purchase
these cards, scratch off an hidden number
on the back of the card, follow the printed
instructions and utilize the information on the
card to add “credit” to their service number.
b. Electronic Recharges/Top ups – customers
access this service by requesting the quantum
of credit they would like to purchase.
i. Digicel Online Top Up allows any
individual who has a valid credit card to
send credit to any Digicel prepaid mobile
device. This service can be accessed by
visiting the Digicel website and selecting
the “Digicel Online Top Up” option. Digicel
Online Top Up service is provided in
conjunction with ‘Ezetop’.
ii. Digicel Bankflex allows for the purchase
prepared credit using select ATM
machines.
iii. Flex-E is a paper receipt usually printed
from an electronic POS terminal of a
authorized retailer.
iv. Phone 2 Phone (P2P) gives customers the
flexibility to purchase prepaid credit from
street vendors, stalls and small shops across
the island.
v. Digicel International Top Up - With
Digicel Top Up, the customer can purchase
Digicel credit for family and friends in
Jamaica from select retail outlets/stores
in the USA, UK, Canada, Cayman Islands,
Turks & Caicos and the Bahamas.

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