TelEm, Smitcoms have
joint debt of NAf. 52M
PHILIPSBURG--Local international carrier Smitcoms has agreed to pay dividends this year to the tune of NAf. 540,000. NAf. 54,000 has been paid so far.
This was announced by Commissioner of Communications Franklin Meyers during Monday’s Island Council meeting. Answering questions posed by National Alliance (NA) and People’s Progressive Alliance (PPA), Meyers explained that the communications companies Smitcoms, TelEm, TelCell and Telnet hadn’t paid dividends to government in the past few years. With the exception of Telnet, the companies have been making increasing charitable contributions.
TelEm, TelNet, TelCell hadn’t paid dividends from 2001 to 2006 and neither had Smitcoms until this year.
Meyers said TelEm had paid NAf. 13.5 million in dividends between 1996 and 1999. The largest dividend payment was made in 1998: NAf. 8 million, an amount which TelEm couldn’t afford, forcing the company to seek a loan, said St. Maarten Democratic Party (DP) Maria Buncamper-Molanus.
Meyers told members of the Island Council that while dividends were important to government, they should also be aware that some government-owned companies couldn’t make these annual payments because of financial obligations or large investments. “Companies can only do so much,” he said, noting that some companies had to take loans to make investments in an effort to keep up with developments. The latter especially applied to telecommunications.
Government has been looking at a concession fee for all its companies. Meyers said the companies, including the airport and harbour, would be paying government a set fee per year to be operating in the Island Territory of St. Maarten. He said these companies could budget this amount.
Buncamper-Molanus said a concession fee was “commendable,” as in this way the companies could also give back to the people. The Island Council approved a new corporate structure for the TelEm Group of Companies and Smitcoms on Monday evening. The new structure involves integrating the four companies.
On the request of NA Councilman George Pantophlet, Meyers also provided the Island Council with a general figure of charitable contributions made by TelEm, TelCell and Smitcoms over the past few years. Charitable contributions have been increasing steadily from 2001 to 2005. TelNet didn’t make any donations in those years.
TelEm in 2001 donated NAf. 25,469. This amount went to NAf. 46,757 in 2002. In 2003 the company paid NAf. 56,570 in donations and in 2004 NAf. 123,653.
Donations by TelCell, the company of TelEm Group of Companies making the largest profits, have increased drastically since 2001. In that year the company donated a mere NAf. 1,995. In 2002, this amount had grown to NAf. 5,007 and in 2003 to NAf. 28,130. In 2004 this company paid no less than NAf. 96,982 to charitable causes.
Smitcoms too has paid increasing amounts in donations. In 2001 the company paid NAf. 1,800, in 2002 NAf. 27,723 and in 2003 NAf. 21,549. In 2005 this amount went up to NAf. 59,292 and in 2005 this figure increased even further to NAf. 101,137. Smitcoms paid NAf. 13,127 in donations in the first three months of 2006.
Meyers didn’t give specifics on the recipients of the donations, much to the annoyance of NA and PPA. Meyers said information on the donations from the years 2001 to 2004 had already been archived and while 2005 details were available, they were considered confidential and an internal matter.
NA Councilman William Marlin and PPA Councilwoman Gracita Arrindell were critical of this approach. Marlin said it “raised eyebrows” and contended there was always the possibility of making the information available for perusal.
St. Maarten Democratic Party (DP) Councilwoman Maria Buncamper-Molanus said internal information was not made public for a reason: to protect the company in question. Otherwise, it might lose its competitive edge. “Internal sensitive information should stay just that,” she said.
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