Digicel committed to Jamaica’s extraordinary culture - Company still riding high off Bounty Killer’s endorsement

Jamaicans are still beaming with pride from last Saturday’s epic Verzuz battle between Beenie Man and Bounty Killer. The virtual event is still one of the most talked-about events in the entertainment industry. Both artistes got a significant career boost, but they were not the only winners for the night. Chief among the others was telecommunications giant Digicel, which received global endorsement from Bounty Killer when he made it clear that “Digicel a fi mi cell”. The company is still riding high off all the praises it has been receiving from not only Jamaicans but viewers who tuned in from across the world.

Going into last Saturday night’s battle, there were concerns about the country’s ability to handle the Internet traffic expected to be generated from the live stream. But with more than three million eyes watching, the Wi-Fi connection remained strong. Some viewers were even surprised that a developing country was able to deliver uninterrupted coverage, given the Internet issues that had plagued the Verzuz battles in America in previous stagings. Speaking with The Gleaner in a post-clash interview, Digicel’s chief marketing officer, Nasha-Monique Douglas, said the company was confident in its ability to handle the clash and was happy the world got to see that Jamaica can deliver world-class entertainment in all forms.

“Knowing the experience we had recently garnered from successfully streaming many hours of the Digicel Unplugged live online concert series over the past three months, we were confident in the ability of our team to pull this one off as well. We recently expanded our bandwidth capacity to better enable our fibre-to-the-home and LTE networks to respond to any surge in data traffic that events like Verzuz could have thrown at us,” she said in an email correspondence. “The clash was a major win for Jamaica’s indigenous dancehall music. It reinforced dancehall’s place as a global superpower and reminded everyone of the talents that Beenie Man and Bounty Killer truly are.”

WELCOMED FEEDBACK

Douglas, who has been keeping up with the memes and global endorsements of the company’s Internet service since Saturday, said that Bounty Killer’s spontaneous feedback was unexpected but welcomed as it kick-started what has been a week of positive feedback for them. “We never expected it (Bounty’s now famous plug), but it sure did make our year and was well appreciated by the entire Digicel family. Bounty Killer’s now legendary words, “Digicel a fi mi cell”, truly echoed the sentiments of the overwhelming majority of Jamaicans who continue to trust us with keeping them connected to the people and things that matter the most, especially during this time. All of us at Digicel are very thankful for the tremendous outpouring of support from our customers and well-wishers who have been reaching out to us on social media, telling us how much they enjoyed the Verzuz clash,” she said. “We are delighted by the uber positive feedback from our customers, the Verzuz team, and fans, along with big-ups from local and overseas celebrities about the excellent quality of the connection, which stood up during the entire performance. This is a result of significant ongoing investments in providing a true fibre-to-the-home/business experience to our customers, along with the most reliable LTE speeds and coverage across Jamaica. Of course, our team of world-class engineers also helped to make the difference by bringing their unique understanding of what it would have required to successfully deliver uninterrupted streaming of a major global event like Verzuz.”

She went on to say that although the clash is over, it will remain a part of Jamaica’s music history that will bring continued joy to Jamaicans and lovers of the culture. “It was truly a night to remember, a treasured chapter in Jamaica’s dancehall history that came at a time when it was important for us to help lift people’s spirits as we continue to go through this global pandemic together,” she said.