Flow Jamaica revenue falls to US$103.2m as hurricane outages hit subscriber base

Flow Jamaica recorded US$103.2 million in revenue for the first quarter of 2026, a decline of 2.0 per cent compared with the same period last year. The performance reflected the continuing fallout from Hurricane Melissa, which left tens of thousands of customers without active service and weighed on revenue for a second straight year of storm-related disruption.

The numbers were disclosed in the first-quarter results of Liberty Latin America Ltd, Flow’s ultimate parent company and the operator of the Flow brand throughout the Caribbean. The Nasdaq-listed company reported consolidated revenue of US$1.08 billion for the three months ended March 2026, broadly unchanged from US$1.08 billion a year earlier.

LLA President and Chief Executive Balan Nair said Jamaica’s rebuild was moving faster than the company had previously forecast. "Our recovery in Jamaica is proceeding ahead of prior expectations and we are accelerating our ambition for fixed home reconnections this year, all within our anticipated capex envelope," Nair said. "Our Jamaican mobile operation continues to scale at pace, successfully leveraging off our satellite initiatives both during and following Hurricane Melissa."

Company filings showed that by March 2026, about 50,000 revenue-generating units, or RGUs, were still offline in Jamaica and producing no revenue. That total included 25,000 broadband Internet customers, 19,000 fixed-line telephony customers and 6,000 video subscribers.

The March figure marked a recovery of roughly 36,000 RGUs from the approximately 86,000 that remained disconnected at December 31, 2025, when the impact of Melissa’s October landfall was still being felt across the business. Flow’s mobile base also contracted, falling by about 37,000 subscribers between December and March to 1.14 million.

"As a result of the impact of Hurricane Melissa, we incurred lower revenue during the first quarter of 2026 and expect to incur lower revenue during the remainder of 2026 relative to the 2025 pre-hurricane period," the company said in its filing. "This decrease is predominantly due to lower fixed connectivity that has been offline for a period of time together with the impact of subscriber losses."

The comparison period in 2025 was also hit by severe weather, as Hurricane Beryl struck Jamaica in July 2024. That means both reporting periods were held back by hurricane effects, giving the Jamaican operation two consecutive years of storm pressure.

Cable & Wireless Jamaica Limited is the legal company through which LLA owns its Jamaican operations. It is 92 per cent owned by C&W, which is itself a subsidiary of Liberty Latin America.

Jamaica is included in LLA’s Liberty Caribbean segment. That division reported quarterly revenue of US$354.5 million, down from US$363.9 million, while adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization, or OIBDA, fell to US$163.4 million from US$173.3 million a year earlier.

Across the wider group, Nair described the first quarter as a strong opening to 2026, pointing to 50,000 postpaid net additions across all segments. "Key metrics such as adjusted OIBDA and adjusted free cash flow came in ahead of our own expectations, which had reflected the tougher year-over-year comparables due to the impact of Hurricane Melissa," he said, adding that "year-over-year headwinds will ease through the remainder of the year and be supported by revenue growth and ongoing cost reduction initiatives."