Flow (brand)

FLOW is a trade name of the Caribbean former telecommunications provider Cable & Wireless Communications used to market cable television, internet, telephone, and wireless services provided by the company. Flow also replaces the UTS brand in the Dutch and French Caribbean, following their recent 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. Every region in which FLOW operates a mobile network descended from the former LIME brand. FLOW uses the GSM standard for 2G which is accessible on 850 and 1900 MHz. It provides data connectivity using GPRS and EDGE. All FLOW markets have GSM coverage. On June 22, 2009, FLOW launched their first 3G networks in Jamaica. On October 6, 2011, CWC announced the launch of a '4G' HSPA+ network in the Cayman Islands 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 islandwide HSPA+ network in Jamaica in March 2014. In Jamaica, FLOW's largest market, the network covers around 2.8 million people and according to the Office of Utilities Regulations (OUR). FLOW operates LTE networks in 12 markets. '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).