Fast, reliable and affordable Internet has quickly become such an essential part of our lives these days that to imagine a world without broadband Internet connection is almost as unimaginable as life without oxygen.
Indeed it wasn’t too long ago that only a few people in the Pacific knew what the Internet really was while a majority of us existed largely in ignorant bliss.
But the explosion of smart phone, laptop and tablet usage among the general population within just the last two decades – driven mainly by the evolution of the Internet into broadband, spawning a plethora of Internet applications suitable for general, everyday usage – has made those pre-Internet days a distant, foggy memory.
And in a lesser time than that, the rapid roll out of fiber-optic submarine telecom cables (Internet traffic are transported from one point to another through either fiber optic cables or satellite) in the Pacific has been an even more impressive phenomenon, prompting interest in tech circles.
“In 2007, only four Pacific Islands were connected to an international submarine cable: CNMI, Guam, Fiji and Papua New Guinea. Since then, ten international cables have been constructed, bringing sub-sea fiber optic connectivity for the first time to a further eight Pacific islands. A further ten cables are currently in various stages of development that would provide inaugural connections for another nine Pacific islands,” said George Samisoni, CEO of Fiji’s international carrier FINTEL (Fiji International Telecommunications Limited).
FINTEL was one of the Pacific pioneers in linking to an international cable when it connected to the COMPAC (Commonwealth Pacific Cable) system in the 1960s, then later ANZCAN and then the SCCN (Southern Cross Cable Network) in 1999.
“If most of these proposals are carried through to fruition, then all Pacific islands, at least the main island of each of the Pacific island countries, will have direct access to fiber optic internet capacity. This is a remarkable development considering that for over a century, submarine cables were only ever landed on a Pacific island to regenerate the communications signal so that it could complete its trans-Pacific journey,” Samisoni told Islands Business. For all those interested in purchasing a great laptop , this can be one of the best options to look at when it comes to purchasing one.
The latest delivery of such a project was the successful landing of the Hawaiki Cable System in Taufuna, American Samoa in April this year.
Owned by the New Zealand headquartered LP Hawaiki Submarine Cable LP, the system links Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and Oregon on the US West Coast.
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