Mandeville, Manchester – Sharon Roper, marketing manager of the integrated communication technologies company, Flow, has accused sections of the Jamaican news media of “irresponsible journalism” for what she says were baseless reports in recent weeks that her company had been sold or was in the process of being sold to telecoms company Claro.

Reiterating that Flow was not up for sale, Roper claimed the media reports – which, she suggested, were not attributed to any source – were potentially damaging to business since they created unwarranted uncertainty in the marketplace.

“We found it a very interesting exercise in suss, because the first article that ever appeared did not reference a quote (source) from neither Flow nor any of Flow’s shareholders, nor Claro,” Roper told Mandeville Rotarians at the Golf View Hotel recently.

“Yet this piece of gossip was repeated and repeated and repeated by reputable journalists without referencing a quote,” she added.

Columbus Communications Company (CCC), the Caricom-based entity which trades as Flow, is currently barred from disposing any of its assets under a court injunction secured by the former owners of three companies acquired by CCC.

But Roper made it clear that “Flow is not for sale. We are not in negotiations with Claro to purchase Flow nor have anybody in Flow nor Claro ever said that to any journalist ever (but) as businessmen you will know it is also very dangerous and damaging to businesses.

“If the client feels that you are under threat of acquisition. It is actually not a good thing, it is actually quite a bad thing and irresponsible journalism to see that just perpetuated.” Roper said.

She was in Mandeville to explain aspects of Flow’s “build-out” of its integrated fibre-optic (broad-band) cable, Internet and telephone services across Jamaica.

She claimed that despite challenges, including the difficult Jamaican terrain, Flow was still aiming to meet its business target of providing service within reach of “every Jamaican home” by 2011.

The “cutting-edge” nature of the technology being used meant the very “labour-intensive build-out” had so far been slow. But, she said, Flow currently covered 50 per cent of the Jamaican population.

There was full “triple play services” including cable, Internet and landline telephone in Kingston, Mandeville, and Portmore while digital cable service was already in Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, Negril, St Mary and Lucea.

Canadian John Risley is a majority shareholder in Columbus Communications. Jamaican/Canadian investor Michael Lee Chin, whose name has been commonly associated with ownership and control of Flow, holds less than 25 per cent of the company.