Philipsburg:--- The Eastern Caribbean Cellular has a debt close to 10 million guilders revealed Minister of Telecommunications Franklin Meyers on Wednesday during the weekly press briefing. Minister Meyers said while ECC owes government (island receiver) 9 million guilders they were given the opportunity to pay 3.6 million guilders with an agreement but yet they defaulted.
Listen to the meeting:
The Minister said the agreement with ECC and the Island Receivers was if the company did not pay the 3.6 million guilders then the debt would go back to the original figure. Meyers said the company paid 1.5 million guilders and they still owe the sum of 7.5 million guilders. Besides that ECC owes TELEM and TELCEL 1 million guilders and approximately 600,000.00 to UTS. "Roughly ECC has debt of about 10 million guilders and that is only what I am aware of" Meyers said.
The Minister said the company was operating on St. Maarten for the past 14 years and they were the first cellular provider on the island however, their plug was pulled on October 4th when the company declared bankruptcy.
The Minister said the trustee proposed to government to have the concession license sold, however, the equipments are obsolete. Meyers said ECC still has TDMA equipments while the other companies here and around the world has gone GSM. Minister Meyers said the only thing that ECC holds that has value is the concession which actually does not belong to the company. Meyers said ECC breached their concession when they filed for bankruptcy since they are no longer able to provide the services of telecommunication on St. Maarten. The Minister said while it is said in media reports that government has a responsibility towards the employees of ECC he believes that government has an obligation to all of its inhabitants. The Minister said he has no intention to run from his responsibilities but ECC also has a responsibility, however, they bankrupted their company which did not come because of government's policy or unfair competition. "ECC had a level playing field like the other providers that are currently operating on St. Maarten." Meyers said the proposal that was sent to him by the trustee is not one that he is in favor of simply because he does not know who is the third party interested in buying the concession.
The Minister said St. Maarten is a brand new country and they have been bitten by the bug where the foreign investors invested in something that was viable at the time and when it stopped working the strains falls on the local government. Minister Meyers said he is not saying that foreign investment is not good but in this particular case it did not work out for St. Maarten, thus he sees no reason why government should go back to the same scenario. The Minister said he already communicated to the trustee and the chamber of commerce that government's intention is to revoke both the concession and the business license of the Eastern Caribbean Cellular. Meyers said even though these notifications were sent out he will be holding meetings with the parties to further discuss the matter. Meyers said if the company provides a tangible solution on Thursday when they are being heard then government will still give it consideration.
The concession license for ECC was scheduled to expire in 2011 but due to the transition to country, the license now has a life until 2013.
In responding to questions pertaining to ECC financial status and its debts the Minister said ECC was no small company instead their mother company was ICC and they first purchased St. Maarten Cable TV and ECC however, it is clear that the monies generated from the company did not stay on the island. However, the Minister said despite that government is not the one that pulled the plug on ECC even though they are in arrears with their taxes.