A cell site showing solar panels installed by Caban.
Digicel to power 40 per cent of cell sites with solar
Jamaica first in telecom firm’s 25-market sun energy roll-out plan
DIGICEL Jamaica has partnered with US-based renewable energy firm Caban Energy to launch an ambitious solar roll-out across its telecommunications infrastructure to power up to 40 per cent of its cell sites.
Set to begin in April, the initiative aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by over 38,674 tonnes annually, reduce operational costs, and fortify network reliability against increasingly severe weather events.
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Stephen Murad, CEO of Digicel Jamaica, revealed that this initiative comes in the wake of Hurricane Beryl, which caused extensive damage to the island’s south coast in July 2024. The hurricane exposed vulnerabilities in the power supplies crucial for running telecommunications infrastructure prompting Digicel to make a commitment to the Jamaican prime minister to invest in renewable energy.
“We’re proud that just eight months later we’re honouring that commitment and actively stepping up to help combat climate change,” Murad told the Jamaica Observer in an interview Tuesday.
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Digicel, as it stands, relies “100 per cent on the energy grid” to power its nearly 900 cell sites across the country with a mix of battery back-up and diesel generator for short-term power outages.
“The problem is in those methodologies. If there’s any prolonged outages, that’s when it becomes a problem,” Murad explained. “If you think about Hurricane Beryl, it took JPSCo multiple months to restore the grid to what it was, and then if you look at St Elizabeth in particular, they’ve had to rebuild that grid from scratch.”
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Murad said the solar initiative is designed to add an extra layer of protection to Digicel’s existing power infrastructure.
“The reality is, we still need JPSCo, we still need the national grid network to work; that is the reality of life. The solar sites are purely for us, not to be feeding back into the grid,” Murad clarified.
Alexandra Rasch, founder and CEO of Caban Energy, emphasised the importance of this partnership in addressing climate change.
“This is about building a sustainable future for all. With Caribbean countries at the forefront of the negative effects of climate change, the region’s energy landscape is evolving,” she stated.
Caban Energy, is a Miami, USA-based company which Rasch, an engineer by trade, said was set up to help companies improve the “reliability in their networks and to decarbonise some of their most critical infrastructure”.
“The word ‘caban’ means the synergies between humans and the environment in Mayan dialect, which is what is spoken in Guatemala,” Rasch, who hails from that Central American country, told the Business Observer.
Under the deal with Digicel, Caban, in collaboration with Phoenix Tower International (PTI), a Florida-based company that specialises in building wireless infrastructure around the world, will deploy the solar technology.
The roll-out will be implemented in phases, with the first phase to start in April and last for 16 months, targeting major sites that feed multiple locations which he said means the roll-out will not be done in time for this year’s hurricane season.
Murad outlined the plan: “We have major sites that feed multiple sites, we want them done first, as quickly as possible, then we’ll start to move to what we would call the sort of end sites, so the smaller sites.”
However, not all of Digicel’s infrastructure will be solarised. “It would be unviable to do every single one,” Murad admitted. “Some towers are not necessarily a tower that you see, and it might be obvious to see.” In total, Murad said 350 of 888 cell sites will get solar power packs and battery back-up.
Commenting on the partnership, Digicel Group CEO Marcelo Cataldo said, “As a meaningful expression of our connecting empowering mission, our commitment to ESG (environmental, social, and governance) is fundamental to who we are as a business. With robust social and governance programmes in place, we’re now making tangible progress in our environmental agenda as we drive multiple benefits through the deployment of sustainable, renewable and cost-effective energy solutions. Jamaica is our first market with Caban and is the shape of things to come with the expectation that more of our 25 markets will come on stream in the coming months.”
That hint of the partnership between Digicel and Caban extending beyond Jamaica was expanded on by Rasch.
“We’re looking at expanding beyond Jamaica into the other markets,” she said as she name-dropped Barbados, St Lucia, Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire among other markets in which it could roll out the solar technology for the cell sites.
For Jamaica currently, Rasch said Caban is now in the “process of hiring and creating jobs”.
“They will be local jobs. Caban operates today in 14 markets and in every single market we use local engineers, local technicians, local people. And for us, that’s a really important part of the process because it allows for our ability to train in a brand new skill set that local, especially young people, may not have but want to acquire. And so we go through a pretty deep technical training on our infrastructure and on our systems before the roll-out. So right now we’re in the process of growing out that team.”
She added that the company is well-capitalised, drawing from infrastructure funds in the US and pension funds in Canada to finance its growth.
“We’re a technology company. So what we’re creating in Jamaica is pretty much a technology hub for the Caribbean. That’s not just telecom because obviously we’re servicing telecom, but it is energy, and energy is really a core part of the all infrastructure. And so our intention is for Jamaica to become the technology hub of the Caribbean and invest into that so that we can continue the skillset development. We can continue the education piece around not just the hardware component, which is a big part of this, but Caban does all of our software in-house. And so we want to create a hub in Jamaica that is intended to service other parts of the Caribbean,” she told the Business Observer.
This solar initiative is part of Digicel’s broader strategy to enhance its services and infrastructure in Jamaica. Murad also highlighted plans to expand the company’s fibre network.
He pointed out that the company’s fibre network is predominantly “concentrated in Kingston, Spanish Town, Portmore, a bit of Old Harbour, and also Mandeville”.
“Our plan really is about expanding that network. So, for example, going west, making sure we expand that network to the west and making sure we capture all of those customers that may have friends and family in Kingston with our Digicel Plus brand,” he added.
Murad said the company has started plans for that expansion calling it “a huge statement” of intent from the Digicel Group to pump millions of dollars into improving the infrastructure in Jamaica, though he didn’t quantify how much will be spent.
Yet, that’s not the only area in which Digicel is seeing growth in 2025. Murad said with myriad hotel projects about to start or nearing completion, Digicel will be targeting them as well.
“We want to offer them hospitality grade IPTV (internet protocol television). Those hotels that are being built, they want a different level of experience. You need to be able to check out on your TV, order room service on your TV, see the bill on your TV. A lot of hotels are now taking those products and services from us. In June, we’re going to do a big hospitality event to show our suite of products of those services.”
Murad, who has been with Digicel Group for the last 10 years, the last two of which have been spent as head of the telcos Jamaica business, said other opportunities in the business-to-business space will also be exploited.
“So things like our sister company, Symptai, specialises in data privacy and cyber security. So bringing more of those products and services into our customers’ hands is critical. We actually did a data privacy session last Friday with a cohort of our customers, and really just about demystifying how can we help businesses to make sure that they stay within the confines of the Jamaica data protection law that came in recently. So I think it’s a relationship change. Don’t forget the core. I think that’s critical. The core business is critical to what we do. It’s how do you bring them cloud, cyber, data privacy, those new services.”
He said the Jamaica business is “performing very well, which is great for us”. Jamaica is Digicel’s biggest market. Revenues in Jamaica were up seven per cent, year-on-year up to the end of the December quarter. Digicel’s financial year runs from April 1 to March 31.
“The last few years, in particular, since COVID, I think we’ve bounced back very well as a business, and I’m really proud of the job that the team is doing,” he added.
He pointed out that the Digicel team in Jamaica is now “99.9 per cent” locals with himself, though an expat, counting as Jamaican, having met and married his wife in the country.
RASCH… this is about building a sustainable future for all
