Merger TelEm-UTS in the making

GREAT BAY – Telecom providers TelEm and UTS Eastern Caribbean are in talks that should lead to a merger whereby TelEm will hold 60 and UTS 40 percent of the shares, Prime Minister William Marlin said during yesterday’s Council of Ministers press briefing.

With his announcement, Marlin addressed concerns expressed by the St. Maarten Communication Union SMCU about the pending sale of TelEm.

“I stopped the process of the sale, I pulled up the handbrakes on that one,” Marlin said. “The decision to look for a strategic partner was taken years ago and government needed to revisit that decision.”

With a merger between TelEm and UTS there will be a strong local company. “We will move on from there,” Marlin said. “Right now they are competing against each other and we will see whether it is still necessary to bring in a bigger player from outside.”

Marlin said that currently there are too many complaints about the quality of service and also about the high price of internet connections.