EUTEL N.V; Statia Government and the Ministry of the Interior Affairs and Kingdom Relations arrange faster and cheaper internet
The Government of St. Eustatius and EUTEL N.V. have managed to conclude an attractive agreement with Saba Statia Cable System B.V. (SSCS B.V.) for internet capacity for the coming five years. SSCS BV is owned by the Ministry of the Interior Affairs and Kingdom Relations. This results in more Internet capacity, at a lower cost. In the coming months direct connections will be established between Statia and Miami, which is a major international Internet node, where Internet capacity is relatively cheaper. Statia will be connected via two routes to Miami so that if one connection is lost, the other route can take over, so-called ‘geographical redundancy’.
Once the direct connections to Miami are established, likely in early 2021, everyone on St. Eustatius will benefit. The financial benefits of this deal will be fully transferred to the customers and businesses of Statia. All consumer packages will receive a reduction of the monthly tariff and all connections will receive considerable higher speeds than currently is the case. Later this year EUTEL N.V. will publish the new speeds and tariffs of the packages. Also, these higher speeds will make it possible for EUTEL N.V. to provide higher quality television. This price reduction will be additional to the recently announced increase of the monthly subsidy from the Dutch Government of $25 (2020) to $35 (2021) on all Internet connections on Statia.
The Government of St. Eustatius and EUTEL N.V. are pleased with these price reductions and considerably higher internet speeds in order for businesses and government to work more efficiently. Students will be able to learn from home, while general consumers will be able to keep in contact with their friends and family abroad.
State Secretary for the Interior Affairs and Kingdom Relations, Raymond Knops is also responsible for Information society & government therefore he is glad with the increase of the possibilities by the agreement. Not only in European Netherlands is he committed to access to digitization but also in the Caribbean Netherlands. Saba has also been invited to take advantage of this offer.
The Government of St. Eustatius and Eutel N.V. reached this agreement with the help of Netherlands Telecom Consulting and Support (NTCS), an independent consulting firm, that supported EUTEL N.V. in elaborating various scenario’s to significantly lower the purchase price and increase the Internet capacity (also called ‘IP transit’). In the aforementioned project parties cooperated with SSCS B.V. This company operates the submarine cable that connects Statia and Saba with other submarine cable systems on the neighboring islands St. Maarten, St. Barts and St. Kitts.