Digicel triggers discussion
in coalition and Parliament
PHILIPSBURG--The possibility of mobile giant Digicel establishing itself in St.
Maarten has been reason for concern within the Central Government. The issue was brought forward by National Alliance leader William Marlin during a coalition meeting last Tuesday August 15.
Transport and Telecommunications Minister Kenneth Gijsbertha will be in a public meeting of Parliament today, August 17, to discuss his policy concerning the Bureau for Telecommunication and Post (BTP). The minister said he expected St. Maarten parliamentarians to fire questions at him about this issue. He already has requested detailed information from BTP on the whole question of issuing licences.
Local mobile carriers United Telecommunications Services (UTS) and TelEm said on Tuesday that they were closely monitoring the situation of Digicel becoming an actor in the St. Maarten market, as it could be detrimental to the local companies and could even put the employment of hundreds of workers in jeopardy.
Gijsbertha confirmed for The Daily Herald that the company Corporate Innovation was in the process of selling its mobile telecommunications licence to Digicel so the latter could establish itself in St. Maarten. At the same time, BTP has to give advice on a licence request by Corporate Innovation, he said. “I have to know if the licence can be sold and if it’s still valid,” Gijsbertha said.
He stressed that the Netherlands Antilles had liberalised the telecommunications market. “This means that any company that complies with the criteria to establish itself in the Netherlands Antilles and in addition has obtained a telecommunications licence can function in that field in the Netherlands Antilles,” he said.
That Digicel complies with criteria in the Netherlands Antilles is obvious, according to Gijsbertha, because the company has established itself in Curaçao and Bonaire already and underwent all kinds of screening.
Unconfirmed information has been circulating that Corporate Innovation bought its licence from the company Duncan Holding. Managing director Peggy Ann Brandon of the law firm Duncan and Brandon Associates refuted this information and stressed that Duncan Holding had never applied for or owned a telecommunication licence.
When confronted with this information Gijsbertha reacted by saying that he had to get to the bottom of it, because reports reaching him also indicated that Corporate Innovation had purchased the licence from Duncan Holding.
The question of a moratorium that was put in place on the issuance of telecommunications licences in St. Maarten was also brought forward in Tuesday’s coalition meeting. “We have a liberalised telecommunications sector. As I see it, a moratorium would contradict this policy. Moreover if the licence was given or requested before the moratorium was put in place, it would not apply to the licence,” Gijsbertha said.
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