Digicel revenues up 11% to $1.4bn

Denis O’Brien’s international telecommunications business Digicel has reported a strong set of first-half results, with double-digit percentage growth evident across earnings, revenue, and subscriber levels.

The Jamaican-based firm — which acts as one of the chief telecommunications network providers across the Caribbean, Central America, and southern Pacific/Oceania regions — said yesterday that revenues for the six months to the end of September amounted to $1.38bn (€1.1bn), representing an 11% year-on-year increase.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, were up 10%, year-on-year, to $577m, with the second quarter of the firm’s financial year contributing $295m to this.

“We’re very pleased with the continued growth we are seeing across our markets and with the customer response to the rollout of our 4G networks,” said Digicel’s group chief executive, Colm Delves.

“We will continue to focus our investments on countries where the appropriate foreign direct investment environment exists and where we see future growth opportunities.”

The company’s subscriber numbers grew by 17% in the first half, to 12.9m users across 30 markets worldwide. The company said that performance, during the period under review, was strong, with geographical markets such as Haiti, Papua New Guinea, Trinidad & Tobago, and Suriname driving revenue growth, in particular.