Telem officials Brian Mingo and Christine Williams and consultant Jerry Sardine explained at a press conference yesterday why the change is being made and why the initial plan to have 46 added to the phone numbers was aborted.
"The stop was decided together with the Bureau of Telecommunications and a new National Numbering Plan for the Antilles was agreed upon," Mingo said. All numbers in the Antilles, except those in Curaçao, will begin differently than now when that plan is executed.
St. Maarten will begin with a 5, Bonaire with a 7, Saba with a 4 and Statia with a 3. Adding to the local number the number which each island's international code ends with will mean that calling from one island to another will only require an additional 0 in front of the phone number.
For Curaçao different measures have to be taken, as that island has an abundance of telephone numbers in use. "They have to figure that out for themselves," said Mingo.
The new numbers will be noticed on the bills for November. "People will have a grace period to get accustomed to the new system," Mingo explained. He said most probably people will not have many losses due to the transfer, because it will take place in January, when most people usually make their investments for the coming year.
The execution of the National Numbering Plan enables an easy link to the North American Numbering Plan. However, according to Mingo, the new decision to add 52 to the numbers has more advantages. The final step, he said, will take about a year to be taken, but then St. Maarten will be accessible to traffic that before couldn't reach the island.
"A lot of offices in the US block their phones for international calls, but people can still make long distance calls. When we're on the North American numbering plan, calling here from the US will be a long distance call," he explained.
Jerry Sardine explained that St. Maarten, when deciding which numbering plan it preferred, had the choice between the North American Plan and the European International Telecommunications Unit plan. "Telem preferred the first, because the island's business is based in that part of the world," said Sardine. He said most islands in the Caribbean were inclined towards that plan.
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