Prime Minister Attends TELEM Shareholder Meeting with Supervisory Board of Directors

Effects of Fiber Optic Cable Discussed

The Prime Minister of St. Maarten the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams attended the regular TELEM Shareholder Meeting with the Supervisory Board of the telecommunication company in order to discuss various items. During the meeting the minutes of the previous Shareholder Meeting were ratified and the annual account of the TELEM Group of Companies was approved and the Supervisory Board of Directors were given decharge for that year. The Prime Minister was also provided with the corporate governance compliance of the company.

 

During last Tuesday’s meeting, TELEM again stressed that a new fiber optic cable, brought in unilaterally, would have consequences on the survivability of the island’s local telecommunication company. The Prime Minister recently reacted to the comments made by Minister of Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk on the Dutch Government’s request to land a fiber optic cable on St. Maarten for Saba and St. Eustatius. "Again the Government of St. Maarten explained to Minister Plasterk our feeling with regards to having the type of competition which would be allowed when a new fiber optic cable comes in to the determent of companies, in particular TELEM. We already have a fiber optic cable managed by TELEM with which we have made a lot of progress in its management and to have an additional cable come to St. Maarten without discussing the connectivity to that cable would not be in the interest of the People of St. Maarten," stressed the Prime Minister.

TELEM also informed the Prime Minister as Shareholder Representative of the status regarding its partnering efforts. The company informed the Prime Minister that it would now enter the stage of negotiating draft letters of intent with its potential partners and then submit these for approval.

"TELEM must be given the time to complete these negotiations and advise us accordingly", commented Prime Minister and Shareholder Representative Sarah Wescot-Williams said after the meeting.