Flow is a

trade name A trade name, trading name, or business name is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is fictitious business name. Registering the fictitious name with ...

of the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

former telecommunications provider Cable & Wireless Communicationsbrands
Liberty Latin America used to market

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

telephone A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...

, and wireless services. Flow also replaced the UTS brand in the Dutch and French Caribbean, following their acquisition of United Telecommunications Service (UTS). Following the acquisition of Columbus by CWC, it was announced that the Flow brand would replace the Lime brand across the merged company, beginning in July 2015.

Wireless

2G

Regions in which Flow operates a mobile network descended from the former LIME brand. Flow uses the

GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a family of standards to describe the protocols for second-generation (2G) digital cellular networks, as used by mobile devices such as mobile phones and Mobile broadband modem, mobile broadba ...

standard for 2G which is accessible on 850 and 1900 MHz. It provides cellular data connectivity using GPRS and EDGE. All Flow markets have GSM coverage. 2G was discontinued in Jamaica on September 30, 2022 and will be discontinued in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on September 30, 2023.

3G and '4G' HSPA+

On June 22, 2009, Flow launched their first 3G networks in Jamaica. On October 6, 2011, CWC announced the launch of a ' 4G'

HSPA+ HSPA may refer to: * High Speed Packet Access, a mobile broadband technology * Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Education * High School Proficiency Assessment * Humphrey School of Public Affairs, an American public policy school * Hunte ...

network in the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory, and the largest by population. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located so ...

and plans to launch HSPA+ networks in the Bahamas and LIME Barbados. In March 2012, LIME announced the addition of 4G technology in Jamaica. In January 2014, former Centrica chief executive, Phil Bentley took over as CEO of Cable & Wireless Communications. That same year, the company announced a US$250 million investment program nicknamed 'Project Marlin', aimed at improving CWC's mobile and fixed-line networks. The plan began with an announcement of an island wide HSPA+ network in Jamaica in March 2014. In

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, Flow's largest market, the network covers around 2.8 million people and according to the Office of Utilities Regulations (OUR).

4G

Flow operates LTE networks in 12 markets.

Cayman Islands

'Project Marlin' also involved the launch and build out of LTE networks across several of the company's markets. CWC's Caymanian business unit (then named LIME Cayman) launched their first LTE network on December 10, 2013. The network initially launched with 100% coverage across the Cayman Islands on LTE Band 17 (700 MHz). CWC's network was followed by Digicel launching an LTE network on Band 3 (1800 MHz). In August 2016, Flow became one of eight carriers in North America and the first Caribbean operator to have rolled out an LTE Advanced network, followed by Orange in the

French West Indies The French West Indies or French Antilles (, ; ) are the parts of France located in the Antilles islands of the Caribbean: * The two overseas departments of: ** Guadeloupe, including the islands of Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Les Saintes, Ma ...

and the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

Antigua and Barbuda

Flow also operates an LTE network in

Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda is a Sovereign state, sovereign archipelagic country composed of Antigua, Barbuda, and List of islands of Antigua and Barbuda, numerous other small islands. Antigua and Barbuda has a total area of 440 km2 (170 sq mi), ...

, which launched on November 24, 2014. On August 17, 2017, CWC announced that it had completed a Gigabit LTE network trial in Antigua and Barbuda in partnership with

Ericsson (), commonly known as Ericsson (), is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Ericsson has been a major contributor to the development of the telecommunications industry and is one ...

. The LTE solution tested leveraged network technology such as carrier aggregation, 4x4

MIMO In radio, multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) () is a method for multiplying the capacity of a radio link using multiple transmission and receiving antennas to exploit multipath propagation. MIMO has become an essential element of wirel ...

(Multiple Input Multiple Output), and higher-order modulation (256- QAM) that maximized data speeds for wireless broadband subscribers.

Turks and Caicos Islands and Anguilla

Flow operates an LTE network in the

Turks and Caicos Islands The Turks and Caicos Islands (abbreviated TCI; and ) are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller Turks Islands, two groups of tropical islands in the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean and no ...

(which runs off the assets acquired from Islandcom Wireless) and

Anguilla Anguilla is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Sa ...

on Band 13.

British Virgin Islands

Flow launched an LTE network in the British Virgin Islands on November 17, 2016. The network launched with LTE coverage available across all of the islands, LTE Advanced is available in Road Town, Spanish Town, Tortola, Spanish Island and Beef Island with speeds up to 100 Mbit/s.

Jamaica

The network's plans for LTE upgrades were officially announced on January 17, 2016, where the company announced in a press release that it would be rolling out an LTE network in Jamaica. The network was initially planned to be rolled out in the high traffic areas in the Kingston Metropolitan Area (consisting of the city of Kingston and its adjacent suburbs in Portmore, St. Catherine and the parish of

St. Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( ; ; ; ) was an apostle of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was a fisherman and one of the Apostles in the New Testament, Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus. The title First-Called () used by the Eastern Orthodox Chu ...

) and on the North Coast in the resort city of

Montego Bay Montego Bay () is the capital of the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of Saint James Parish, Jamaica, St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth most populous urban area in the country, after Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Spanish Town, and Portmore ...

and the resort town of Ocho Rios. The company was, however, countered by its competitor, Digicel Jamaica, which launched its LTE network on June 9, 2016, in Kingston and a portion of Montego Bay. In July, Flow announced that it had applied to the Spectrum Management Authority (SMA) for additional LTE spectrum to provide a 'faster service'. Flow subsequently acquired AWS-1 Blocks D and E to buttress their pre-existing Block F spectrum. In December 2016, Flow went live with an initial 12 LTE cell sites in the Kingston Metropolitan Area. According to Flow Jamaica's former Managing Director, Garfield Sinclair, the company's new parent, Liberty Global is focused on mobile data. On August 20, 2017, the company announced that it was launching an additional 144 LTE sites covering Montego Bay, Ocho Rios and Mandeville by October 2017, making Flow the operator with the largest LTE footprint in the country. Flow also expanded coverage in the Kingston Metro Area, upgrading sites in the township of Portmore and the major town of

Spanish Town Spanish Town (Jamaican Patois: Spain) is the capital and the largest town in the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of St. Catherine, Jamaica, St. Catherine in the historic county of Middlesex, Jamaica, Middlesex, Jamaica. It was the Spanish and Briti ...

, which went on-air in October 2017. This effort was a part of a near 200 LTE site rollout across the island, availing the major towns and cities in Jamaica with LTE coverage by the end of 2017, with the goal of achieving comprehensive coverage by 2018. In January 2018, the network announced that it had deployed over 170 LTE sites across the island. Flow's rollout of LTE Advanced in Jamaica continued with intentions to extend LTE coverage to 87% of the Jamaican population by the end of 2018 with a future target of covering 95% of the population by 2020. In January 2023, Flow rolled out Voice over LTE (VoLTE) on its network.

Barbados

After conducting its first test call in October 2016, Flow Barbados officially launched its LTE network on March 22, 2017. At the time of launch, the network had a total of 35 active sites dispersed over Band 2 and 5 LTE (1900 MHz and 850 MHz respectively), making this Flow's third LTE Advanced network deployment.

St. Lucia

Flow launched St. Lucia's first LTE network, with availability in the capital city, Castries, the town of Vieux Fort, home of Hewanorra International Airport to the south of the island and the old capital and tourist town of Soufrière (home to The Pitons, Soufrière Estate and Anse Chastanet) to the west. The network is available on LTE Band 13 (700 MHz) with a maximum theoretical speed of 75 Mbit/s down and 25 Mbit/s up.

Saint Kitts and Nevis

On September 29, 2017, Flow launched Saint Kitts and Nevis' first LTE network, with availability in the capital city,

Basseterre Basseterre (; Saint Kitts Creole: ''Basterre'') is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Saint Kitts and Nevis with an estimated population of 14,000 in 2018. Geographically, the Basseterre port is located at , on the south-wester ...

, St. Peter's and Bird Rock in St. Kitts as well as Charlestown in

Nevis Nevis ( ) is an island in the Caribbean Sea that forms part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies. Nevis and the neighbouring island of Saint Kitts constitute the Saint Kitts and Nevis, Federation of Saint Kitts ...

. The network is available on LTE Band 13 (700 MHz) with a maximum theoretical speed of 75 Mbit/s down and 25 Mbit/s up.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

In December 2018, Flow launched its LTE network in

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, sometimes known simply as Saint Vincent or SVG, is an island country in the eastern Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies, at the south ...

, with availability in the capital city, Kingstown, and nearby surrounding areas. The network is available on LTE Band 13 (700 MHz) with a maximum theoretical speed of 75 Mbit/s down and 25 Mbit/s up.

5G

On June 4, 2024 Flow launched

5G NR 5G NR (5G New Radio) is a radio access technology (RAT) developed by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) for the 5G (fifth generation) mobile network. It was designed to be the global standard for the air interface of 5G networks. It is ...

services in the Cayman Islands.

Pre-5G

On July 17, 2017, Flow's parent company, Cable & Wireless Communications, in collaboration with their parent, Liberty Global, announced that they had conducted a trial of LTE-A Pro technology in Antigua & Barbuda. The company announced that upon installation, Antigua & Barbuda will become the first country in the Caribbean (and wider Latin America) to be availed of an LTE-A Pro network, capable of speeds up to 800 Mbit/s. In October 2017, the company will be testing a 5G prototype network, designed to deliver wireless data connections of around 2–5 Gbit/s. The testing and deployment is being done in collaboration with long time business partner and supplier, Ericsson.

Future footprint expansion

Flow currently operates in two markets with no wireless offerings,

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

and

Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...

. Flow plans to add a mobile network to its portfolio in Trinidad and Tobago. The company applied to the governing telecoms body,

Telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT), in 2014 for a mobile license. To date, however, Flow has yet to receive a license despite being named as the recipient of the license being tendered by TATT. They plan to build an LTE network as well despite incumbents,

bmobile bmobile is a Mobile Phone, Home Security provider, and fixed wireless provider of Trinidad and Tobago, operating as a division of TSTT. History TSTT has re-branded its mobile division to bmobile along with other Cable & Wireless Communications ...

(

TSTT Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (generally known as TSTT) is an incumbent telephone and Internet service provider in Trinidad and Tobago. The company, which is jointly owned by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, Go ...

) and Digicel, having well established mobile customer bases. Flow cites its experience in other markets, to include previously launched LTE networks in other markets in addition to newly built networks in Jamaica and Barbados as an impetus to get TATT to issue the license. Flow's parent company, Cable & Wireless Communications, is a minority shareholder in incumbent TSTT, however, services are not branded as C&W but as bmobile, CWC's former consumer brand from 2003 to 2008 (succeeded by LIME in November 2008 in all markets except Trinidad & Tobago). Plans for a mobile network in Curaçao came to the fore when Cable & Wireless Communications acquired UTS Curaçao and other UTS business units across the Dutch Caribbean. The Curaçao business unit of UTS will be combined with Flow's existing operations there with the promise of bringing faster LTE speeds and coverage with an improved customer experience.

Mobile benchmarks and awards

Based on drive tests carried out by engineering consulting company, MSI Americas, Flow was rated as the top carrier in the two tested countries; Jamaica and Barbados. In Jamaica, Flow was placed ahead of its competitor in terms of radio frequency quality, 3G throughput, and higher 3G retention. Flow was also rated the faster mobile network in the country, with users to experience on average, above 3 Mbit/s ( downlink) on the HSPA+ network. Flow Barbados also placed ahead of its competitor there as well in said categories as well. In addition, Flow Barbados was also ranked by Ookla as being the best ISP and mobile network in Barbados. Flow was also rated by Ookla as Cayman's fastest mobile and broadband network. In 2016, P3 Group, a management consultancy headquartered in

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

, Germany, conducted benchmarks in six Flow Territories (Antigua & Barbuda, the Cayman Islands, Jamaica (pre-LTE), Montserrat, St. Lucia and Turks and Caicos). The finding of these benchmarks concluded that Flow networks were on average 90% better than their competitor, Digicel, in terms of call setup, download and upload speed, latency and video streaming (over YouTube). Raw scores showed that Flow also outranked the competition in voice and data performance at the very least, twice. In Q2-Q3 of 2018, Flow Jamaica received the distinction by Ookla's Speedtest Awards by being Jamaica's fastest mobile network, with customers seeing speeds averaging at 22.66 Mbit/s on the downlink and 9.62 Mbit/s on the uplink.

Radio frequency summary

Broadband, pay-TV and landline

Cable TV, HFC and broadband

Flow operates HFC networks in the former Columbus Communications markets of

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

, Curaçao,

Grenada Grenada is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The southernmost of the Windward Islands, Grenada is directly south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and about north of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and the So ...

, Jamaica, Trinidad,

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. Part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), Saint Vincent ...

and Saint Vincent. The network also follows conventions shared with its sister companies such as Virgin Media Ireland & UK,

Ziggo Ziggo Holding B.V. ( ) is the largest cable operator in the Netherlands, providing digital cable television, Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers. History The company is the result of the merger between ...

, UPC in its choice of CPE; a custom Arris cable modem, capable of speeds up to 1 Gbit/s. The box's nomenclature 'FLOW Connectbox' also finds similarity with its sister brands like Ziggo, with Virgin Media being the only exception with its 'Superhub 3'. The company switched to using a DOCSIS 3.1 Sagemcom F@st 3890 v3 following Liberty Latin America's other markets in the region. DOCSIS 3.1 was rolled out in Trinidad in August 2023.

Fibre and wireless broadband

LIME, in 2014, began rolling out a

fiber-to-the-home Fiber to the ''x'' (FTTX; also spelled "fibre") or fiber in the loop is a generic term for any broadband network architecture using optical fiber to provide all or part of the local loop used for Last mile (telecommunications), last mile tel ...

(FTTH) network in Barbados. They also have a FTTH network in numerous areas with greenfield deployment in Jamaica and across all of

Grand Cayman Grand Cayman is the largest of the three Cayman Islands and the location of the territory's capital, George Town, Cayman Islands, George Town. In relation to the other two Cayman Islands, it is approximately 75 miles (121 km) southwest of L ...

as well. In January 2023, Flow rolled out a FTTH network in Tobago.

References

, Antigua & Barbuda,

Bonaire Bonaire is a Caribbean island in the Leeward Antilles, and is a Caribbean Netherlands, special municipality (officially Public body (Netherlands), "public body") of the Netherlands. Its capital is the port of Kralendijk, on the west (Windward an ...

British Virgin Islands The British Virgin Islands (BVI), officially the Virgin Islands, are a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, to the east of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands and north-west ...

Dominica Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. It is part of the Windward Islands chain in the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of t ...

Montserrat Montserrat ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, wit ...

, Saba, Saint Barthelemy,

Sint Eustatius Sint Eustatius, known locally as Statia, is an island in the Caribbean. It is a Caribbean Netherlands, special municipality (officially "Public body (Netherlands), public body") of the Netherlands. The island is in the northern Leeward Islands ...

, St. Kitts and Nevis,

St. Lucia Saint Lucia is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. Part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), Saint Vincent ...

, St. Martin, St. Maarten, St. Vincent and the Grenadines,

Turks and Caicos The Turks and Caicos Islands (abbreviated TCI; and ) are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller Turks Islands, two groups of tropical islands in the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean and no ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

and

External links

* {{Major telecommunications companies Telecommunications companies established in 2015 2015 mergers and acquisitions Flow Mobile phone companies of the Caribbean