Flow Jamaica (Cable & Wireless Jamaica Limited) is estimating a reduction of US$20 million to US$30 million ($3.18 billion to $4.77 billion) in revenue due to the impact of Hurricane Melissa.

The update was provided in Cable & Wireless Communications Limited (C&W Communications) third quarter report for the period ending September 30. Flow Jamaica sustained damage to its infrastructure from the Category 5 hurricane which disrupted its mobile and fixed line clients when it his sections of Jamaica on October 28, 2025.

“As a result of the impact of Hurricane Melissa, we expect to incur lower revenue. This is predominantly due to lower fixed connectivity and will reflect the provision of rebates for homes and businesses, which are offline for a period of time. We are working hard to restore connectivity. There can be no guarantee as to the cadence of future reconnections or the pace of future revenue recovery. In addition, we expect to incur additional costs, as well as property and equipment additions as we restore damaged networks,” C&W stated in its report.

The company also estimated that there would be an impact to adjusted OIBDA (Operating income before depreciation and amortisation) of US$25 million to US$35 million. The current property and equipment expenditure for the current fourth quarter (October to December) is US$25 million to US$30 million, approximately US$5 million to US$10 million higher than previously anticipated before the hurricane. This expenditure covers hurricane-related property and equipment additions for recovery and rebuilding activities.

When Liberty Latin America Limited (LILA) had its earnings call on November 6, the mobile network was restored to 80 per cent of pre-hurricane levels with over 40 per cent of fixed line customers restored. That was a little more than one week after the October 28 event.

The mobile network traffic now exceeds 95 per cent with over 60 per cent of residential customers on the fixed line network now back online. The major metropolitan or urban areas are closer to full recovery, but the fixed-line network in large areas of the west still remains offline.

“To a significant degree, the ability to restore fixed service has been, and remains, dependent upon Jamaica’s power supply and transmission system. As power is restored, we will assess the extent to which homes can be reconnected. Prior to the hurricane, homes in the south-west of the country represented close to 20 per cent of all homes connected in Jamaica. For reference, the metro areas represented over 50 per cent of connected homes,” C&W added.

When Hurricane Melissa initially hit, LILA was projecting to receive US$81 million from its weather derivatives before the end of 2025. C&W is now estimating that it will receive an estimated US$106 million ($16.87 billion) from these derivatives.

Weather derivatives are a type of financial protection that pay out money quickly after a severe weather event, such as a hurricane, based on set measurements like wind speed. Instead of waiting for traditional insurance claims to be processed, this system uses data — such as how strong the winds were — to trigger a payment, which helps companies like Flow rebuild faster after a disaster.

According to Flow Jamaica’s 2024 annual report, the company received $5.545 billion in net proceeds from weather derivatives. These funds offset $1.273 billion in infrastructure and equipment replacement costs arising from Hurricane Beryl in July 2024. Additionally, Flow Jamaica recorded $207 million in asset impairments related to hurricane damage.

S&P Global Ratings published a bulletin on November 6 in which it highlighted the damage and risk that Hurricane Melissa would have on Cable & Wireless Communications Limited and Digicel Midco Limited which have operating subsidiaries in Jamaica. Although the impact of the storm was stated to strain the financial performance of the Jamaican operations for both firms in Q4, S&P did not expect a significant impact on the overall financial results of either entity.

“We anticipate increased capital expenditures for infrastructure repair, reduced revenue generation, and extraordinary operating expenses, all of which will hurt the profitability and cash generation of C&W’s and Digicel’s Jamaican operations. Jamaica represents varying portions of overall revenues: approximately 29 per cent for C&W and 20 per cent for Digicel, as of the third quarter of 2025. Therefore, it remains a strategically important market for them,” S&P Global Ratings stated.