BROADBAND communications provider Flow will continue to invest millions of US dollars every year in Jamaica over the next few years and regards the country as a long-term investment with healthy returns confidently manifesting themselves in around 20 years’ time.

Speaking at a media breakfast held at its New Kingston corporate headquarters last Thursday, Flow’s Chief Operating Officer Michelle English said: “The business that we are in is a hugely capital-intensive exersise. To date we have spent US$250 million and we anticipate another US$50 million every year for the next four years. We expect to see some return in the very long term somewhere in a 15 to 20-year period. We are currently at a point where we can support our internal operations, though we are continuing to spend capital on building out our infrastructure. If there is any cash left over it goes into our capital build, but that is primarily still funded through our successful bond offering that took place last year.”

Flow entered the Jamaican market four years ago and has implemented a triple play of services — digital cableTV, digital landline and Internet which has won for them many customers. Flow is proving that it can meet the growing demands for broadband solutions at reasonable prices. It has also introduced cable TV packages which allow customers to pick what channels they want to watch and so provide a service to cater for any income demographic.

Flow used the media breakfast briefing to announce that it had established an e-commerce data park in Curacao for offshore data storage and protection. The e- commerce park is a 24-hour network operation centre with specialised services for asset protection, data residency and privacy.

Explaining the rationale behind the e-commerce park, Flow’s Director of Marketing Sharon Roper said: “Our region unfortunately is prone to natural hazards such as hurricanes and earthquakes. During any particular disaster of this nature, a country can lose vital business and social data, spanning decades, in a matter of minutes. We have to plan ahead and we must put in solutions to protect sensitive and valuable data.”

Michelle English further added that Flow has invested over US$20 million in this facility. The cost factor will be based on what customers need and what they use. Customers will be charged US$4 per gig per month. The broadband communications provider is expected to offer islandwide licence service by the end of 2013 in Jamaica. As it currently stands, it is estimated that there are 750,000 homes in Jamaica and Flow says that it is in about a third of those at this point in time. English expects the company to be in 50 per cent of homes next year.

Minister of Information Daryl Vaz in an upbeat mood said: “Flow not only boasts triple play services but also the region’s only direct undersea fibre-optic connection to the United States and South America. The trending down of Broadband prices benefited from Flow’s entry into the Jamaican market. In 2004 the cost of a connection to Kingston to Miami was upwards of J$8,000 per meg. Since then prices have come down to approximately J$1,200 to J$1,500 per meg on Flow’s network. Also, there has been a reported 99.3 per cent decrease in retail Broadband over the period 2004 to 2009. I encourage Flow to continue to provide cheaper talk with the free on network calling, and to reduce local and international calling rates.

“I note Flow’s indication that it has managed to offer 15 megs per second to residential customers. The government is of the view that the expansion of broadband at this kind of speed and bandwidth is a critical element of the local infrastructure upon which our knowledge-based society is being built.”