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“LIME customers ranked Flow higher against positive brand attributes, including innovation, value for money, customer-focused, going the extra mile”

Group Director of Communications and Culture, Grace Silvera, quoting results of a survey from an independent company to justify their decision to go with the FLOW Brand

It is now official!!!

The CWC (Cable and Wireless Communications) purchase of FLOW that occurred back in November 2014 that the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining officially sanctioned in January 2015 is now moving into its next phase, that being rebranding.

But with a twist! Instead of FLOW taking on the brand name of the parent, LIME, Parent is taking on the name of the company it purchased, which is FLOW!

lime-flow-merger

On Wednesday May 6th 2015 the company made the decision to use the FLOW Brand and possibly the same logo to represent the businesses with Mas Movil and BTC in Panama and The Bahamas being retained as is, due to the familiarity of the people with those brands in those countries.

Also Garfield Sinclair, the current CEO of LIME Jamaica, will head the combined companies. Already, as his first duty as head of the new entity, he has announced the coming of higher rates for FLOW Cable packages.

By Wednesday May 13th, 2015, they had officially announced a price increase by Monday June 1st 2015, which I suspect is more related to the request by the BCJ (Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica) to remove some nineteen (19) illegally broadcasted Cable Channels.

More on that as that story is developing and ongoing, as the other forty nine (49) illegal Cable operators in Jamaica are liking this one bit!

LIME Jamaica is now FLOW – Grace Silvera Survey says FLOW is a Positive Brand association

LIME, a concatenated acronym that stands for “landline, Internet, mobile entertainment”, had a merry existence, having originated some six (6) years ago in November 2008. But the name, which was meant to also resonate with Caribbean customer to carry the same meaning as “lyme”, which in the eastern Caribbean is a word synonymous with Carnival and Partying.

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But in Jamaica, the name is for a fruit and it did carry very well, especially as LIME’s service from its C&W days hadn’t changed, making the new name more synonymous with bad service and being regarded as “careless and worthless”. But FLOW hasn’t face that kind of problem.

According to Group Director of Communications and Culture, Grace Silvera, they contracted an independent company to do a detailed Caribbean-wide customer Survey in December 2014 to decided on a new Brand name. What surprise them was that FLOW already had considerable love among the people.

The findings of the independent company indicated that the FLOW Brand had:

  • A higher customer recommendation/net promoter score
  • 25% to 35% higher customer satisfaction in key markets

They survey also revealed that FLOW customers impressions of the company’s Brand and what it stood for were also very good. FLOW’s brand represented to the customer Positive attributes, including innovative, refreshing, forward-thinking, progressive and customer-focused. With a brand like that being recommended via a Caribbean-wide survey, it’s no wonder they opted to switch to FLOW, as the brand clearly has room to grow.

Group Director of Communications and Culture, Grace Silvera went on to point out that this wasn’t an overnight change but would take place over the next eighteen (18) months, albeit she decline to provide financial details. But CWC (Cable and Wireless Communications) had previously they’d be splashing some US$1.5 billion to integration the two (2) companies.

Also some JA$29 billion of that allotment is being spend by CWC coming to upgrade LIME Jamaica to a 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) Network as announced in February 2015, their budget may also be considerably large in size for the entire Caribbean.

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So be prepared to see a lot of billboards disappearing and a lot of FLOW Billboards and advertisements going up.

Also not everything is going with the FLOW:

  • C&W Business will be the new brand to replace CWC Business Solutions, Columbus Business Solutions and Sonitel brands
  • C&W Communications will be the new brand to replace CWC
  • C&W Networks will be the new brand to replace C&W Communication and the former Columbus Networks, which represent the wholesale submarine and terrestrial fibre optic cables

CWC to launch 4G LTE Soon – Rebranding for a unified Caribbean and Latina American image

This quite a surprising developement, really! After the purchase had gotten the approval of the GOJ, in March 2015 CWC sealed the US$3.025 billion Columbus Communications Company, acquiring 100% equity for some US$1.85 billion.

CWC operates under the LIME brand in some sixteen (16) countries in the Caribbean and Latin American. However they also operate under the following brands in some territories:

  • Mas Movil in Panama
  • BTC in The Bahamas
  • Cable & Wireless in Seychelles

Columbus Communications, which also has a business arm called Columbus Business Solutions, has operations in the following countries:

  • Barbados
  • Curacao
  • Grenada
  • Jamaica
  • St Lucia
  • St Vincent & the Grenadines
  • Trinidad

In Antigua they are called Karib Cable and their subsidiary, Columbus Networks, operates in forty two (42) countries in the following locations:

  • Andean regions
  • Central American
  • Greater Caribbean

By no means is the merger a done deal, one of the reason why I’d taken so long do an article about this. So far Jamaica has approved deal but Trinidad and Barbados have signaled conditional approval by March 2016.

Grenada, St Lucia and St Vincent & the Grenadines, who fall under the jurisdiction of ECTEL (Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority) are still mulling their decision as it’s not all yet final.

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One response to “LIME Jamaica Goes with the FLOW thanks to Caribbean-wide Survey”

  1. Enlightening article, though it doesn’t answer my question about continued free Flow to Flow calls. Lol. On a serious note C & W has purchased a lot of goodwill with the purchase of Flow from a marketing perspective, and has an opportunity to rebrand and earn a clean slate in the eyes it’s customers and former customers. Make use of it. The plans for the mobile product sounds awesome. Can’t wait. Ps. This webpage is serving up Digicel ads,lol. Not cool.