The Utility Regulation and Competition Office have approved a phased shutdown of Flow’s long-running candw.ky email service in the Cayman Islands, under rules designed to protect customers and allow them time to move to new providers. The regulator said Cable and Wireless (Cayman Islands) Limited, trading as Flow, could proceed only after it met notice and support requirements set out in an amended direction issued this year.

The Flow candw.ky email shutdown timetable begins in July 2026 and ends on December 31, 2026, giving customers time to migrate their email and update their accounts. URCO said it acted after Flow said it intended to end the service in the second quarter of 2026 but had not given enough detail on customer notices, help with migration or the timetable.

Regulator set out conditions before shutdown could begin

URCO issued an Amendment to Direction No. URCO/D/2026/2, which changed an earlier order that had barred Flow from discontinuing the service without prior regulatory approval. The office said the candw.ky platform had been used in the Cayman Islands for decades and was tied to Cayman Islands government accounts, banking services, healthcare communications, business operations and personal records for many subscribers.

The regulator said it intervened to ensure the company gave notice, allowed time for customers to move and offered help to people who relied on the address. It also said it considered the operational and cybersecurity risks of continuing to run an ageing email platform. URCO said the phased approach reduced the chance of sudden disruption for households, firms and institutions that still used the service.

Under the amended direction, Flow must meet a series of obligations before the closure dates take effect. By July 31, 2026, it must issue public notice of the shutdown, publish the relevant cessation dates, provide guidance on how customers can create replacement email addresses, preserve emails and attachments, update linked online accounts and inform contacts of their new address.

Flow also must publish contact details for trained support staff who can help customers with the migration. Notices must be sent by email, SMS, social media and prominent messages on Flow's website. The company must then give URCO written confirmation and copies of the customer notices by August 1, 2026.

Dates set for sending, receiving and read-only access

If those requirements are met on time, customers will no longer be able to send emails from candw.ky accounts after August 31, 2026. The ability to receive new emails will end on September 15, 2026. Subscribers will then keep read-only access to existing emails and attachments until no earlier than December 31, 2026.

URCO said the phased closure was intended to give customers time to save historic records and move to other services. The Utility Regulation and Competition Office (URCO) said the issue had wider implications in Cayman because the email service was used for banking, government, healthcare and other day-to-day communications. It also included an enforcement mechanism. If Flow missed the July 31 notification deadline, every later shutdown milestone would move back on a day-for-day basis. In other words, a five-day delay in the required notices would push each subsequent closure date back by five calendar days.

"URCO intervened to ensure that Flow could not proceed with the proposed cessation of this long-standing service without appropriate notice, regulatory review and practical support for affected customers," said Sonji Myles, URCO’s interim chief executive officer. "The amended Direction now establishes clear obligations and an orderly timetable that gives subscribers time to move to another email service and preserve important information."

"We strongly encourage candw.ky customers not to wait until the final dates. Subscribers should begin creating a replacement email address, updating the organisations and accounts that rely on their candw.ky address, and saving any emails, attachments and contact information they may need in the future," Myles said.

What happens after the final closure

After the service was shut down, Flow was required to surrender administrative control of the candw.ky domain to URCO. The regulator said it would keep the domain reserved for at least five years to reduce the risk of misuse of former customers’ email addresses. URCO did not say what longer-term plan, if any, existed for the domain after that period.

URCO said it would continue to monitor Flow’s compliance with both the original direction and the amended order. It said any failure to comply could lead to enforcement action under the Utility Regulation and Competition Act, the Information and Communications Technology Act, and Flow’s ICT licence. That could include administrative fines, penalties and other regulatory measures.

The move also reflects a broader industry trend. As internet service providers retire legacy email platforms, many have cited declining usage and rising maintenance costs. Announcing the closure of its own email service, Canadian provider Quadro said:

"Usage of ISP-provided email services has steadily declined over the years, while the technology required to maintain them has become more complex and resource-intensive."

URCO likewise said the Cayman Islands shutdown had to balance the challenges of maintaining an ageing email platform against the potential disruption for customers who continued to rely on the candw.ky service.

Flow must complete the required customer notification and support measures by the end of July 2026, with URCO continuing to monitor the company's compliance throughout the phased shutdown.