Court rules against RCN

Rijksdienst Caribisch Nederland (RCN) has lost the court case relating to its attempt to obtain a submarine cable landing permit in Sint Maarten, the Daily Herald reported.

RCN filed legal action after government minister Franklin Meyers refused to issue the former Netherlands Antilles-based government entity a permit to land its submarine cable in the country.

The operator already had begun deployment of its submarine cable infrastructure in Saba, Sint Eustatius and St Kitts. It argued that Meyers had no authority to deny it permission to utilise the existing landing point belonging to regional telco United Telecommunication Services (UTS).

However, Judge Rene van Veen ruled in Meyers’ favour, with RCN’s legal representative Maarten Le Poole protesting that the decision will thwart Dutch interests on the island, as well as costing the government-backed entity between USD800,000 and USD1.5 million.