Michael Lee Chin

Billionaire investor Michael Lee Chin's firm, Flow, has denied that it is no longer interested in the local cable industry. In fact, according to general manager Michelle English, Flow is now in discussions with a number of local cable operators which the Lee Chin firm is seeking to purchase.

"Quite a number of cable companies are interested in selling to us, despite what the media has claimed," English told the Business Observer. "We are currently in discussions with quite a large number of cable operators."

English declined to give details, saying that Flow has signed non-disclosure agreements with the cable companies.

Ever since the formal launch of Flow in Jamaica in April, there have been rumours that the company has been approaching various cable and Internet providers with acquisition offers.

In June, when Columbus Communications, the parent company of Flow, received regulatory approval to purchase cable company Sauce Communications Network, seven cable operators took out an advertisement stating that they have not sold their businesses to Flow.

Sauce is the largest cable provider in the Corporate Area, with operation in three zones. It was created on July 2, 1998 from the amalgamation of five cable companies - Home Commercial Satellite Limited, Affordable Enterprise Limited, Universal Cable Network Limited, Cabana Cable Limited and Eastern Cable Network Limited.

Flow, which will provide data services, voice telecommunications and subscription video services to customers in Jamaica, has been busy over the past few months running overhead fibre-optic lines in Kingston, Spanish Town and Portmore.

However, so far the company is providing service to only one area of the capital. "Landline and Internet services now available in New Kingston," information posted on Flow's website said. "The following areas will be next: Beverly Hills, Long Mountain, Chambers Lane, Grants Pen and sections of Cherry Gardens, Barbican and Mona."

Despite the seemingly slow rollout, English said that the company is moving ahead according to plan. "The business we are building at Flow requires a big time commitment," she said. "Flow has spent US$100 million in Jamaica to date and we are rolling out our product line in phases. For the rest of this year, we will focus on the 23 zones that comprise the Sauce area."

The Sauce areas are downtown Kingston, east Kingston and August Town in St Andrew.

"By late September, we should have the triple play (Click, Talk, Watch) available for selected communities in the Sauce area," added English.

Columbus Communications is a partnership between Lee Chin and Canadian businessman John Risley, who is chairman of Clearwater Seafoods Limited, a Nova Scotia-based publicly traded seafood harvesting, processing and distribution business.

Columbus has controlling stake in the Bahamian Cable Company, a leading provider of subscription video and broadband services in that island. In April 2005, Columbus acquired the New World Network, the principal owner of the Americas Region Caribbean Optical-ring System (ARCOS).

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