Jamaican operator Flow has expanded its 5G network to prepaid customers, as it continues to ramp up its next-generation network following its commercial launch in June.
The operator initially launched 5G for postpaid and business customers, but is now making the service available to prepaid users on its 70-day plans and above.
Flow said eligible customers will benefit from lower latency and faster download speeds, supporting applications such as gaming and browsing, as well as clearer voice calls.
Flow Jamaica president and general manager Stephen Price described the expansion as an “important milestone” in the operator’s network investment programme, which is aimed at improving services for customers.
Flow claimed to be the first operator in Jamaica to launch 5G commercially, following a US$74 million investment from parent company Liberty Latin America. The initial rollout reached around 70% of the Jamaican population.
The expansion comes as rival Digicel continues to hold back from a commercial 5G launch in Jamaica.
Digicel founder Denis O’Brien has previously questioned the business case for 5G, citing the high cost of deployment. Speaking to Nearshore Americas in 2024, O’Brien said the nine main operators in the Caribbean had informally agreed not to launch 5G because of the lack of a compelling business case.
He argued that regulatory intervention around “fair share” was needed, referring to the long-running debate over whether large technology companies should contribute towards telecoms infrastructure as their services generate significant traffic across operator networks.
O’Brien has previously described the business case for 4G as “shocking”, while calling 5G “a disaster”.
Flow’s expansion therefore puts further pressure on Digicel to respond as the Jamaican market begins to move towards wider 5G adoption.
