SINT MAARTEN (POND ISLAND) – TelEm Group employees and contractors working on the TelEm Fiber island-wide fiber optic network, currently being rolled out throughout St. Maarten, are stepping up efforts to connect residential and commercial properties in time for Christmas and the New Year.
TelEm Fiber says by the end of this year it will have connected a number of customers to its fiber optic network in various locations on St. Maarten. Plans are now in place to double that effort to make 2021 the year that anyone who wants fiber can be connected to the network without delay.
It is a goal that is being met by installing the network of fiber cable connections throughout St. Maarten in a process the network designers call “homes passed”. It means cables are laid based on a network design, so that connections can be made to homes and offices when the home or office requests a connection (homes connected).
There are several areas already connect on the Fiber network amongst these:
- Beacon Hill
- Simpson Bay
- Sucker Garden
- Lowlands
- Point Blanche
- Valley Estate
- Weymouth Hill
- Parts of the Phillipsburg area
- Parts the Madame Estate area
TelEm Fiber plans to have service ready to go in the follow areas in the coming weeks and months:
First Quarter 2021
- Remaining part of the Phillipsburg area
- Remaining part of the Madame Estate area
- Peters
- John’s
- Betty’s Estate
- Ebenezer
- South Reward
- Middle Region
Second Quarter 2021
- Belair
- Little Bay
- Dutch Quarter
- Union Farm
- Lower Princes Quarter
The process of becoming a TelEm Fiber customer is quite a simple one.
It begins with civil works, in which a main contractor and a series of sub-contractors, survey various neighborhoods to plans and assess the logistics of rolling out fiber in said neighborhoods.
In areas where a survey has been carried out and fiber put into the ground, property owners, residents and businesses are notified by letter that Fiber service is available in their area. Customers are then invited to apply for the service using a TelEm Fiber form provided with the notification letter to be brought to the Philipsburg or Simpson Bay branch along with the required documents. The form can also be completed digitally at www.telem.sx/fiber.
TelEm Fiber says the entire process, from the time an application form is submitted for the service until connection is made to the fiber network, should take no longer than 10 – 15 working days, depending on the amount of trenching and other works that might be required from the meter wall of the property to the inside of the building. TelEm reminds our customers that each individual customer is responsible for any trenching on their property. TelEm technicians will complete the instalation by securing the cable along fences, walls etc.
Members of the public and property owners are asked to look out for notices of when TelEm Fiber will be available in their areas and to put out a big welcoming mat for TelEm Fiber staffers and contractors who can be readily identified by their ID badges, vehicles, and other means of identification.
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