PHILIPSBURG — The TelEm Group of Companies is still in a bind due to its dispute with the Israeli telecom giant MER over a payment of more than $3 million.
This story goes back to June 30, 2017, when TelEm signed a contract worth $15.7 million with MER Sint Maarten BV for the construction of a fiber optic network. More than two years later, on October 17, 2019, TelEm canceled the contract, citing deficiencies and delays in the execution of the work. MER maintained that the cancellation was unlawful.
On January 20, 2022, the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) ruled against TelEm. It ordered TelEm to pay MER $561,905 and an additional $2,671,522 upon the presentation of invoices. The company did not give up and it did not pay: on May 13 of the same year it went to court demanding that the ICC-ruling be voided.
On February 6, 2024, the court in Amsterdam established that TelEm had no valid reasons to terminate the contract and ordered the payment of $3.23 million to MER. The Israeli company could claim another $1.5 million for work in progress.
So far, TelEm has refused to pay and the question is now what is likely to happen next.
MER was established as a family business in the early 1980s; it is headquartered in Or Yehuda in the Tel Aviv district in Israel, and employs approximately 600 people.
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