Dennise Williams, Staff Reporter
PARDY
RICHARD PARDY, chief executive officer of Flow says the company is preparing now to roll out its new products which should start appearing next month.
A member of Columbus Communications group of companies, Flow is a CARICOM-based telecommunications provider, which already provides telecommunications solutions in 17 Caribbean countries.
Flow's goal in Jamaica is to offer Jamaican businesses ultra high speed Internet, digital landline service and digital cable TV with over 250 channels from one service provider.
"We want our roll-out to be perfect," Pardy said.
The 94 people who work full time with us are ensuring that we meet consumers' expectations."
CLEAR ISSUES
Speaking yesterday with Wednesday Business on the progress of the company, Mr. Pardy sought to clear up a number of issues.
One issue which was raised in Wednesday Business last week was whether Flow had the regulatory approvals to launch its services.
Mr. Pardy dismissed those concerns.
"There are about 30 to 40 companies that offer voice service but only three or four are operating now," he said. "We are not under the same regulatory environment as they are. We have what we need in terms of licenses to operate. But since we are a new market entrant, we don't need pre-approval for our pricing."
An issue raised by Cable and Wireless president Rodney Davis was whether Flow will only focus on Kingston, St. Andrew and St. Catherine and ignore the rest of Jamaica.
"Our objective is to service Jamaica," he responded. Most homes in Jamaica have cable and fixed line service. What we will do is give people greater choices in those areas. For example, we will offer the on screen navigation and pay per view services that Jamaican cable subscribers currently lack."
BROADBAND SERVICE
However, the real revolution Flow is bringing is in its broadband service, he said.
"Our biggest impact will be in broadband. We will offer more and lower price points. Our residential service will offer as much as two megs (megabits) of service. And this is four times as fast as the competitor's ADSL service at the same price point."
A megabit is a unit of information storage and is most commonly used when referring to data transfer rates.
Broadband will be priced at $650 for 10 hours per month to $1,800 for unlimited monthly service.
"This will allow persons who couldn't afford it to have high speed Internet. We will make that market more robust."
And as for commercial clients, Mr. Pardy noted that Flow would offer as much capacity as they need. "They won't be constrained."
That said, the next important question is when will residential service be available.
Mr. Pardy states, "By the end of May, our roll out schedule by neighbourhood will be published. Then we will have salespeople go door to door and ask people if they want to be clients. If no one is home, we will leave door knockers with contact numbers.
And, finally, the company notes that they are aware of the unsightly exposed orange tubes near the entrance of Vineyard Town.
According to Mr. Pardy: "Our contractor is working on that problem as we speak."
