When Columbus Communications announced last week that it had acquired subscriber television provider, Entertainment Systems Limited, the possibility of the telecommunications firm taking over the cable industry suddenly appeared a reality.

A Flow store on Island Life building in New Kingston. (Photo Joseph Wellington)

More so, because the acquisition unequivocally positioned Columbus, which trades in Jamaica as Flow, as the largest cable operator in the prized Kingston and St Andrew market, having secured that title for the municipality of Portmore when it bought JACS last year.

Moreover, only one - Telstar - of the two large operators in the corporate area remained unyielding in its stance to 'not sell' to cash-rich telecom.

Sophia Darby-Golding, a directors of Telstar, told the Business Observer that "there is no intention to sell and we are not in talks with anyone".

She says her firm is commited to maintaining "the best possible service to our customers at the most equitable rates".

Logic One, along with Telstar and five other cable operators, had gone as far as to advertise in the print media that they would not sell to Flow back in 2006, but is now singing a different tune.
So far, three of those seven cable operators have sold to Flow - Allied, Entertainment and D&L.

Mario Francis, chief executive officer of Logic One, which has a strong presence in southern St Andrew, is incensed at the government's decision to grant Flow an all-island cable licence but says his company's hands are being forced by its inability to expand.

Francis said that cable operators like himself found it difficult to get expansion licences from the government and finds it bemusing that Flow was granted an all-island license with perceived ease.
"Right now, we are being boxed in a corner with licensing, so if we are next on the block to go under, don't be surprised," noted Francis. "The ability to expand has been taken away from us by the (adminstators); Flow became a monster the day when they were given the all-island licence by the government.

"Flow was given a licence for the whole island while other operators couldn't even obtain one to get a another little (zone) beside them that they can easily expand on," added Francis angrily.

Telstar's Florence Darby yesterday told radio host Cliff Hughes on Nationwide at five that her firm had similar problems during its 12 years in operations, even citing one incident of being denied an additional zone in the Washington Garden area.

Carlton Cummings, chief executive officer of CTL Limited, which provides services to Harbour View, Seven Miles and Bull Bay, also said that he has no intention to sell, but acknowledged that he felt "cornered" by an inevitable monopoly.

"As of right now I have no intention to sell, but if everbody is actually going to sell to Flow and if I were the only cable operator left I might as well do the same, but as of right now I have no intention," noted Cummings.

Public cries of monopolisation by Flow has placed pressure on regulators to respond.

The Broadcasting Commission said in a press statement issued yesterday evening that it has been taking "action to put into place a framework to faciliatate the grant of a second licence for all-island cabel servie usinge wireless technnology", much like the one that was issued to N5 in 2002.

That licence was voided last year due t onon-performance by the company, according to the commission.

The regulator said it would make further public statement at a news conference scheduled for 4 pm.

The squeezing out effect is perhaps even more of a reality in in Portmore, where Oliver Electronics Limited is the only other operator and where JACS - one of the firms to be acquired by Flow thus far - is the major player.

Carmen Coote, principal of Oliver Electronics, is nevertheless bracing for stiff competition but is insisting taking on the Telecommunications firm through a "major upgrading" of her channel offerings.

"Its hard to find anyone that has not been offered to sell," acknowledged Coote. "I don't plan to sell, we are going to upgrade our system and compete."

Roxroy Sinclair, the proprietor of Cornwall Communications Limited, which is perhaps the largest cable company in western Jamaica, providing services in Trelawny and St James, does not believe Flow's acquisition strategy will be detrimental to his operations. He feels that Flow, with its digital cable offering, will out-price themselves out of a huge share of the market.

"What you have to understand is that when they buy out all the companies some people are going to suffer because some persons won't be able to pay for it," said Sinclair, who told the Business Observer that he has already denied a buy-out request from Flow. "People don't make American money in Jamaica so you can't charge American prices."

In response to queries about what many beleive is the cable operators' lack of preparedness to effectively put up any resistance to Flow, Cornwall Communication's Sinclair criticised players in the industry of not forming consortiums and using other innovative measures to effectively compete with the cash-rich company.

"Jamaican people are totally different, the head space is just not there and that's what the problem is," said Sinclair. "Alot of businesspeople are only there for the quick money; if you leave the door open all the flies and the cockroaches will come in."

The entertainment acquisition by Flow brings to eight, the number of local cable operators to be acquired by Flow since June 2006 when the company acquired SAUCE Communications, then the largest cable provider in the corporate area.

Flow was granted an all-island cable licence last year by the government, in agreement that it would roll-out its network across the entire island by 2011. The company has taken on an agressive acquisition strategy to procure market share but has consistently denied that it is attempting to monopolise the market.

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