Vandals have severed Flow Jamaica’s fibre optic cables in St. Ann, disrupting the communication and entertainment firm’s services to its customers in sections of Ocho Rios, St. Ann’s Bay, Runaway Bay, Discovery Bay and its environs.

Flow, in a statement Saturday afternoon, said the incidents occurred between 3 am and 4 am. It said broadband, video and fixed voice services of over 5,000 customers in the area’s residential, resort and commercial communities have been impacted.

“While this includes financial institutions as well as hotels and other tourism interests, the company has already redirected the network traffic, where possible, to redundant (alternate) routes,” the company said.

“This is the third consecutive week that our customers have had their services disrupted as a result of theft and vandalism,” said Kayon Mitchell, Communications Director at Flow.

“These incidents are the latest in a longstanding series of theft and vandalism activities that have continued to plague our business and tens of thousands of our customers, despite comprehensive security measures,” Mitchell added.

She lamented that “such deliberate action and blatant disregard by vandals of the impact of their activities on critical areas such as national security, online learning, e-commerce and economic growth is greatly troubling”.

The telecoms senior executive further shared that the company had suffered more than 590 incidents of theft and vandalism of copper and fibre cables as well as other network elements in 2021. Since January 2022, the company has recorded more than 250 incidents.

The company stated that it has been investing significantly to build out its fibre optic network as it brings connectivity to unserved and underserved communities across Jamaica under its Mission Connect Programme. Over the past two years, the company has connected over 500 communities to its fibre network.

“These latest acts of vandalism will cost the company approximately J$1.5 million to restore services plus revenue losses,” it said.

Meanwhile, Flow is appealing to members of the public to call the police at 119 or its hotline at 876-922-HELP (4357) to report any act of vandalism, theft, arson or any other such activities that can potentially cause disruptions in its service.