Digicel’s Million Man Smartphone Army – How Alcatel One Touch Dual-SIM is a setup for MNP, LNP Smartphone Gamechanger

“Offering affordable smartphones, which provide a wide range of features, has been a key pillar of our 'Internet Everywhere' goal. The recent expansion of our 4G data network, which now covers 92 per cent of our population, has also been critical to our drive to increase broadband penetration in Jamaica”

Digicel CEO Barry O'Brien commenting on Digicel reaching 1 million smartphones sold

I guess that huge fire sale really moved a lot of DL750 smartphones in the dying moments of the Fourth Quarter of 2014 as chronicled in my blog article entitled “JA$6,950 DL750 and JA$8,250 DL800 on Sale at Digicel – Alcatel One Touch Pop C1 as ZTE Force Awakens and Alcatel’s Empire Strikes Back”.

This as Telecom Provider Digicel has declared that they now have achieve 1 million smartphones sold in the last three (3) months of 2014 as noted in the article “Digicel Jamaica's smartphone users surpass 1 million”, published Sunday, January 11, 2015, The Jamaica Observer.

This announcement by Digicel CEO Barry O'Brien coincides with the partnership between Digicel and the Wikimedia Foundation to bring Wikipedia Zero to smartphones users sans a Data Plan, in a manner similar to Facebook Zero as reported in my Geezam blog article entitled “Wikimedia Foundation partners with Digicel for Wikipedia Zero”.

Ok, good to note, this differs from when Digicel achieved their millionth Data Activation, for which Digicel feted 22-year-old Kellyon Smith a student of Church Teachers' College in Mandeville on Tuesday September 2^nd 2014 as reported in my blog article entitled “Digicel surprises 1 millionth Data Activation Customer - Church Teachers' College Kellyon Smith as 2 millionth Data Activation is fast Approaching”.

Also, the two millionth activation is also fast approaching, if it hasn’t already passed.

Technically that covers both Blackberries and smartphones as Jamaicans renew their Data subscriptions every three (3) days to as long as a thirty (30) days, depending on what Data Plan they use as noted in my blog article entitled “Digicel's JA$70 Data Plans vs LIME's JA$50 Data Plans - How to choose 3-Day and 30-Day Data Plans in Jamaica”.

So what does Digicel attribute this achievement? A little known smartphone maker, Alcatel.

Digicel’s secret weapon in their million man smartphone army – Alcatel One Touch and their hooked

To put this achievement in perspective, this 1 million strong Army translates as thus:

1.      20% growth in smartphones in the Fourth Quarter of 2014

2.      45% of Digicel's Subscriber base is smartphones

Most of these smartphones are a part of the “DLXXX” series, starting with the DL600 which was launched back on Friday October 18^th  2013 as stated in my blog article entitled “Digicel officially launches DL600 smartphones on Friday October 18th 2013 and JA$100 2-Day Data Plans - Ours is the Fury as Digicel’s DL600 secures their Throne in this Game of Phones against LIME”.

The DL700 followed soon thereafter on Friday December 11^th 2013 as stated in my blog article entitled “Digicel has launched the DL700, an upgrade to the DL600 on Friday December 6th 2013 - The Alcatel One Touch Pop C3 is Digicel’s latest Unicorn that may be harder to catch”, starting the trend of Digicel using Alcatel One Touch Series as their OEM (Original Equiptment Manufacturer) for their “DLXXX” line of smartphones.

Telecom Provider Digicel eventually reached the DL750 which was launched on Friday September 19^th 2014 as chronicled in my blog article entitled “JA$13,688 Digicel DL750 Launched – Alcatel One Touch Pop C3 with Free TV App, DL600 issues in X-Men Origins First Class Days of Future Past”.

However, its lifespan was short-lived, mainly because the upgrade wasn't really worth the price.

Enter the DL800 and DL900 launched Tuesday December 2^nd 2014 and Wednesday December 3^rd 2014 respectively as chronicled in my blog article entitled “JA$6,950 DL750 and JA$8,250 DL800 on Sale at Digicel – Alcatel One Touch Pop C1 as ZTE Force Awakens and Alcatel’s Empire Strikes Back”.

Dual SIM smartphonesc cometh – MNP and LNP means smartphone gamechanger

Now that 2015, the Year of the Sheep, has started off with Digicel adopting ZTE as another OEM, this time for the DL800 as stated in my Geezam blog article entitled “Digicel launches DL800 aka ZTE Kis 3 Max second after Digicel DL900 on Christmas 2014”, we may see yet another firesale by May 2015.

This thanks to the coming of MNP (Mobile Number Portability) and LNP (Landline Number Portability) by Sunday May 31^st 2015 as stated in my blog article entitled “Minister Paulwell affirms MNP, LNP Coming May 31st 2015 - Why NPA TPPR, IXP Deadline and VoIP Registration herald MNP, LNP for NANP Number Ranges and Competition”.

Customers will be switching, actually porting, from one Mobile or Fixed Line Network to another. To counter this, the DL900, which is actually the Alcatel Pop C7, comes with an extra SIM (Subscriber Identification Module) slot based on my inspection of the model as recorded in my Geezam blog article entitled “Digicel Launches DL900 aka Alcatel Pop C7 as Digicel DL750 on Sale for Christmas 2014”.

Digicel, expecting many to switch to Telecom Provider LIME and their cheaper Huawei Y330 smartphone which was on sale in December 2014 as stated in my blog article entitled “JA$2999+GCT Huawei Ascend Y330 Sale at @limejamaica - Digicel DL750, DL800 Sale makes JA$6,907.92+GCT per month Samsung Galaxy Note 4 a Steal”, has decided to meet customers half-way.

The logic is clear: since the trend of Dual-SIM is inevitable and MNP/LNP is approaching, one simple way to keep customers on Digicel's Network is to offer Smartphones that can support multiple SIM Cards as argued since 2013 as per my Geezam blog article entitled “Trend towards Dual-SIM smartphones Developing in Jamaica as MNP approaches”.

That way, if they decide to switch, they can use the one phone to hold two (2) Digicel SIM Cards.

Most likely too, the second SIM slot is for another Digicel SIM i.e. it's locked to Digicel’s Network. Digicel probably reasons that the customers are less like to unlock the DL900, as the cost to unlock is more than the cost of the phone itself.

This strategy will be put to the test come May 2015, when MNP goes live as Digicel’s million man smartphone Army marches forth.