Digicel ups mobile coverage to 90 per cent

A 24/7 post-Hurricane Beryl restoration effort to reconnect over two million customers to the Digicel mobile network is paying off with the mobile operator reaching 90 per cent population coverage as of Thursday, a release from the company noted.

Achieved in just under seven days since the Category 4 storm ravaged sections of Jamaica, CEO for Digicel Jamaica, Stephen Murad, declared, “Our simple promise is that we won’t stop until every Digicel customer is reconnected.” He thanked the company’s 98 work teams in the field: “Rapid restoration of communications for consumers and businesses is at the centre of our disaster response plan. Our teams are experienced, always looking for ways to perfect the restoration process, and always ready to respond at a moment’s notice.”

The release noted that ‘Significant coverage improvements have been ongoing in hard-hit St. Elizabeth, Westmoreland, Hanover, and Clarendon over the past two days. Mobile customers across the country can also access a Digi-Cares bonus, loaded with 1.5 gigabytes of data and 30 local minutes to welcome them back to the network. “Even though you may not have service today, the bonus will stay in your virtual wallet until the network returns for you to use it,” Murad informed. Digicel is also reassuring customers that their days that could not be used due the storm will be rebated between now and the end of July.

Digicel employees also provided mobile charging stations to get customers in power-stricken areas to charge their phones for free.