Cayman telecoms consumers received an early Christmas present when the Utility Regulation and Competition Office issued the first satellite service provider licence to Starlink Cayman Islands Ltd.
The move is a boon for internet users in Cayman because it means – after years of regulatory uncertainty – they can now take full advantage of satellite communication technology.
Until now, using Starlink in the Cayman Islands required workarounds that limited full access to the service. “The advantages [of the new licence] are you can buy it and install it at your house and get service on land,” said Bob Taylor, former CEO of WestStar (now Logic). “That is a huge opportunity to use the service legally and where it is supported by Starlink.”
It means consumers now have increased choice, more resilience in a natural disaster and potentially lower costs.
Challenge for incumbents
Yet while the arrival of Starlink is a boon for consumers, it could pose a challenge for incumbent telecommunications players, such as Flow and Logic. Writing for industry magazine ICT Pulse, Michele Marius argues that Starlink could take market share from some Caribbean telecom providers.
“In remote or rural parishes where access to telecoms service is weak or inconsistent, Starlink often delivers markedly better connectivity and performance than legacy options,” said Marius.
Marius notes that is particularly relevant in the Caribbean where there are sparsely populated areas that have traditionally been underserved. In Cayman, one example is the Sister Islands.
Another challenge is that Cayman’s traditional telecoms providers invest heavily in expanding their fibre network to remote areas, but Starlink can arrive there by simply selling a terminal.
Starlink’s “hardware and subscription costs remain significant,” said Marius, yet “many users (businesses, NGOs, governments, high-value residential customers) will pay a premium for resilience and performance.” So Starlink could challenge the incumbents in their most profitable segments.
Yet one option for incumbents is to partner Starlink and integrate satellite communications technology into their own offering.
“Flow Cayman remains open-minded about satellite technology,” said the company in a statement sent to the Compass. “Where satellite connectivity can reliably and cost-effectively serve customer needs (for example in emergency response, remote locations, or as a backup to improve resilience) we will evaluate and, where appropriate, incorporate those technologies into our service mix.
“We have practical experience doing this as recently demonstrated during Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica, where satellite solutions played a significant role in maintaining connectivity for affected communities while we repaired terrestrial infrastructure,” said Flow Cayman.
No need for another cable?
Starlink doesn’t just bring internet to remote or hurricane-struck communities – it also increases Cayman’s internet connection to the world. Until now, Cayman has relied on two subsea cables to handle the flow of data between the islands and the world.
The government is looking to partner with the private sector to build a third cable but if a significant portion of companies and consumers decide to use Starlink, it will relieve pressure on the cables and lead to more data being sent by satellite instead.
The arrival of Starlink “will make it very difficult for a ‘third cable operator’ to make a profit of any kind,” said Taylor. “Even if the cable was 100% paid for by the government, the operating costs of the cable will make it too costly to be competitive.”
Flow Cayman doesn’t agree. “It is important to recognise the technical and economic realities: submarine cables remain the principal backbone for mass capacity, low latency services, and affordable large-scale bandwidth,” said the company statement. “Satellite can provide valuable alternative routes, redundancy, and targeted services, but it is not a simple substitute for the submarine network that underpins the region’s digital economy.”
Flow’s parent company, Liberty Latin America, owns or controls both landing stations for the two subsea cables that provide transport of data into the Cayman Islands. In a December 2025 interview, Jeff Hart, the general manager of Logic Cayman highlighted the cost of accessing those cables as a key factor in high internet prices on the islands..
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