Flow (brand)
 | |
| Industry | Telecommunications |
|---|---|
| Founded |
2004 Relaunched - July 2015 |
| Headquarters | Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Turks & Caicos, Trinidad |
Key people | John Reid (President) |
| Products | Fibre Broadband, Cable Broadband, ADSL, VDSL & VDSL2 Broadband, LTE, HSPA & HSPA+, TV, Landline |
| Parent | Cable & Wireless Communications (Pending acquisition from Liberty Global) |
| Slogan | This is how we FLOW! |
| Website |
www |
FLOW was formerly a brand of Columbus Communications providing residential and business telephone, Internet and television services across the Caribbean. The brand was used by individual companies operating in each country, registered under the Columbus Communications name.
Cable & Wireless Communications however, purchased Columbus Communications in 2014, and began to replace its existing LIME-branded services under the FLOW brand beginning in July 2015 (in Barbados).[1]
FLOW is now the consumer-facing brand for CWC's operations in the Caribbean in Barbados, Jamaica, The Cayman Islands, St. Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago, Montserrat, Dominica, Antigua & Barbuda, St. Vincent, St. Lucia and Anguilla, Curaçao and the Turks and Caicos Islands (as of May 2016). The rollout of the new FLOW is expected to be completed by May 2016, ending with the British Virgin Islands.
Mobile
As FLOW is a merger of the old Flow and LIME, they have a wide variety of deployed technology. For mobile (inherited from LIME), they use the GSM standard for 2G (accessible on 850 & 1900 MHz in most markets they operate in). On top of this, they also operate 3G networks in all their markets and have upgraded all to HSPA+ (which they market as "4G" in promotional material) capable of speeds up to 21 Mbit/s. FLOW recently achieved island-wide HSPA+ coverage (about 2.8 million PoP i.e. Points of Presence) in their largest market, Jamaica (with an estimated 800,000 mobile subscribers or about ~2.4x the population of Barbados). Other markets have island-wide "4G" coverage as well. FLOW also operates LTE networks in select markets namely: The Cayman Islands, Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, The Turks and Caicos Islands and Anguilla. Most of them are deployed on the 700 MHz spectrum with the exception being Antigua & Barbuda, which utilizes LTE Band 4.
On January 17, 2016, the company announced in a press release that it will be rolling out a 4G LTE network in Jamaica - making it the first carrier there to do so. The network, built by Ericsson and Huawei, will allow subscribers to see speeds averaging 50 Mbit/s per subscriber. The network will be initially rolled out in 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) and on the North Coast such as in the resort city of Montego Bay and the resort town of Ocho Rios).[2]
Some markets not slated for LTE will see upgrades to DC-HSPA+ (which sees speeds up to 42 Mbit/s on the downlink).
Based on drive tests carried out by engineering consulting company, MSI Americas, FLOW was rated as the top carrier in the 2 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.[3] FLOW Barbados also placed ahead of its competitor there as well in said categories as well.[4] In addition, FLOW Barbados was also ranked by Ookla for being the best ISP and Mobile Network in Barbados.[5]
In addition to this, FLOW also offers prepaid calling rates of $2.99 JMD or $0.02 USD per minute for on-net and off-net calls as well as calls to the USA, Canada and Landlines in the UK through the "Talk-EZ" plan. The rate plan goes even lower to $1.99 JMD or $0.01 USD for Postpaid subscribers and Prepaid subscribers who subscribe to a data plan eligible for FLOW 'MVP' (Maximum Value Plan) i.e. data plans that last for a duration of 7, 15 or 30 days.
FLOW has 2G & 3G roaming for its Postpaid subscribers in most countries & offers discounted roaming in the territories where LIME or FLOW operates. FLOW does not roam on its regional competitor, Digicel's network in any of its markets. FLOW also offers discounted roaming rates for its Prepaid customers via the MyRoam Plan. In Jamaica, there is the MyRoam Max which offers a 50 MB data allotment, 50 mins of talk time to call Jamaica and the roaming country and 50 texts to any destination for $1000 JMD or $8.30 USD. There is also a data bolt-on of 50 MB which costs $500 JMD or $4.15 USD which lasts for 3 days.
FLOW is also Apple's exclusive wireless partner in the English-speaking Caribbean. They sell iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches through their numerous retail outlets. iOS only carries carrier bundles for FLOW as it pertains to networks within the sub-region (with the exception of The Cayman Islands - where competitor Digicel sells iPhones as well).
Internet & Landline
FLOW operates a vast and expansive broadband and/or HFC network in all their markets. They offer speeds from 1 to 8 Mbit/s for ADSL in some markets and recently began to offer broadband up to 48 Mbit/s in places such as Anguilla and The Turks & Caicos Islands (while under the LIME brand) due to a VDSL upgrade. On their HFC network (found in the former Flow markets - Barbados, Curaçao, Grenada, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent), they employ the DOCSIS 3.0 standard, which allows them to offer speeds ranging from 15 Mbit/s up to 100 Mbit/s. In some markets, they offer up to 300 Mbit/s on their HFC network as well. These networks also formed the backbone of LIME's and FLOW's Pay TV services. FLOW pay-TV services can also be found in the Bahamas, where CWC owned, BTC, has launched its pay-TV service.
The old Flow was the leading cable provider in markets such as Jamaica, where they offered HD content and DVR capabilities. They currently still are the largest in that market and the entire region.
Pre-merger into post-merger, the company began rolling out a Fiber-to-the-Home network in Barbados. Now complete, the network now offers speeds from 2 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s, thanks to an all fiber optic network. They also have a FTTH network in select locations in Jamaica as well. FLOW also has POTS or landline deployed over their network as well.
FLOW also operates DEKAL Wireless, a rural Jamaican municipal Wi-Fi network operator, on behalf of Cable and Wireless Communications (which acquired shares in DEKAL after they acquired Columbus Communications).
Value Added Services
The company is also a partner with Wikimedia and allows its Prepaid and Postpaid subscribers access to Wikipedia free of charge. Another company they partner with is Deezer, a music streaming service which selected FLOW (then LIME) as their exclusive Caribbean partner. FLOW allows its Prepaid and Postpaid subscribers across all their markets to access the free subscription tier as well as Deezer's premium tier. The company allows payment for the premium tier by either deducting the converted charge (from USD - where applicable) from the attached wireless account (Prepaid) or charging for the service on said wireless account monthly (Postpaid). FLOW also has a music streaming website with curated playlists for the Jamaican market, powered by Deezer.
FLOW offers apps such as FLOW ToGo (allows pay-TV subscribers to access content on the go) and FLOW Football (allows users to listen to matches which CWC has acquired exclusive rights to). FLOW mobile subscribers can also access information about their wireless account by using the MyFLOW self-care app which allows for purchasing a data plan or a data bolt-on, track minutes used, a call's cost and purchase and track a roaming plan's usage. It is available for iOS and Android users in all of their markets.
FLOW is also the official broadcaster for the 2016 Summer Olympic to be held in Rio de Janeiro for the Caribbean. The games will be broadcast on their new FLOW Sports Network in up to Full HD, available to all of their pay-TV subscribers.
Retail
The old Flow and LIME operated numerous stores in each of their own markets. During the brand redesign phase, CWC commissioned retail design experts, Shikatani Lacroix, to come up with a new look and feel of the brand's stores. The new store look was unveiled at the FLOW Fairview store in Montego Bay, Jamaica on October 17, 2015. To date, the new stores have also been unveiled in Portmore in Jamaica as well as in St. Kitts and Nevis. In future, the brand has plans to offer one-on-one customer service, where the customer would be able to purchase handsets on the spot in addition to its other in-store services.
Community Involvement
FLOW invests heavily in the communities in the markets which they have a presence. In Jamaica, they have events such as the FLOW Super Cup (An event fashioned off of the FIFA World Cup), FLOW Skool Aid (an event held at the end of every August to help children get back to school) and other small-scale activities like infrastructural donations (Hospital and School refurbishing) and much more.
Controversy
The merger of CWC and Columbus caused a stir in the Caribbean as most of the fibre-optic links leaving the region were owned by either CWC or Columbus or both. Many industry oversight committees in the region voiced their disapproval of the merger as well as the company's largest competitor, Digicel which at the time did not own any undersea fiber. The governments of Trinidad & Tobago and Barbados conditionally approved the merger given certain criteria. In countries like Jamaica, however, the merger was approved by their Minister with responsibility for Telecommunications uncontested.
The brand has also been criticized for its Telus-operated contact center in El Salvador. The contact center had been existing under LIME and has been accused of having serious language barrier issues and an inability to sympathize with local issues in some of the brand's markets. The brand has now established a new contact center in Kingston, Jamaica, which will be in full operation by May 2016.
References
- ↑ "‘LIME’ brand to be replaced by ‘Flow’". CNS Business. 7 May 2015. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
- ↑ FLOW Jamaica upgrade to LTE
- ↑ "FLOW says it tops competitor in islandwide mobile benchmarking tests". Jamaica Observer. February 9, 2016. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
- ↑ "Not so fast says FLOW". Barbados Today. January 27, 2016. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
- ↑ "Flow Is Barbados’ Fastest Telecoms Provider, Says Ookla". Cable and Wireless Communications. April 7, 2016. Retrieved April 17, 2016.