MELBOURNE, Australia-In a part of the world that still relies on word of mouth as a means to keep in touch, cellular communications-both digital and analog-is continuing to spread through the Pacific Islands as greater numbers of people in the region adjust to using mobile phones.
Today, American Samoa, the Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea (PNG), the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu and Western Samoa all have at least one cellular operator. Even the small island of Niue, with a population of less than 2,000, has a commercial cellular network. And Palau will have one by August.
However, the growing popularity of mobile telephony as well as its commercial possibilities, particularly among the larger island states, is prompting some operators to both expand coverage of their cellular-and in the main, digital-networks as well as develop value-added services. Vodafone Fiji, for example, is investing millions of dollars to expand its network by 40 percent to 60 base stations.
Concentrated coverage
Population coverage, though, can vary because of the very different physical nature of each island state, which ranges from “a lump of rock,” as one operator described its island service area, to an archipelago of more than 900 islands, which is the case in the Solomons.
Operators, though, have tended to concentrate their cellular coverage on the main towns where most of the population lives.
From a total population of 220,000 spread across a few hundred French Polynesian islands, 160,000 live on Tahiti. Thus, cellular coverage on that island is unsurprisingly high at 90 percent. Within the Samoan center of Apia, the cellular coverage is about the same.
In Fiji, which boasts one of the most advanced cellular operations among the Pacific Islands, the population (800,000) is spread across more towns, so coverage is only at about 50 percent.
While the first priority generally is to increase coverage on the main island within a nation, some operators are looking to extend coverage to smaller islands as well.
In Samoa’s case, Telecom Samoa Cellular-a joint partnership between the Samoan government and Telecom New Zealand-is not only building coverage on its main island, Upolu, but its second-largest island, Savai`i. Solomon Telekom has extended cellular service to the Gizo islands. French Polynesia’s Office des Postes et Telecommunications (OPT) aims to complete coverage on Tahiti, but also has plans for islands such as Bora Bora, which is a major attraction for tourists.
To date, mobile phones have tended to cater to a limited local market, so targeting visitors offers operators an opportunity to increase network traffic. “It just makes commercial sense to expand the network to areas visited by tourists and people traveling on business,” said Gilles Gooding, OPT’s manager for external relations.
Thus, establishing roaming agreements with travelers’ countries of origin also has started to be a feature in some operators’ business plans. OPT plans to establish a roaming agreement with France, as well as New Caledonia, Australia and New Zealand.
Attracting customers
Though tourism and trade provide opportunities, operators have had to concentrate on building the local market. They may offer competitive rates and seasonal specials at times such as Christmas.
On smaller islands, operators sometimes dedicate the network to fixed as well as mobile customers. For example, 80 percent of customers on Niue’s AMPS network use fixed terminals. On Kiribati, the island’s fixed pay phone service runs off the AMPS network.
Elsewhere, operators are introducing voice mail (and on Fiji a short message service), cellular card phones (Samoa) and prepaid schemes.
Fiji, in particular, acknowledged the higher growth in the mobile market worldwide when it introduced its prepaid service, Fast Fone, last June. The result was a 50-percent leap in its subscriber base, boosting the number of customers from 8,000 to 12,000 in the first three months.
This was particularly significant considering the carrier’s subscriber base until then had grown by only 1,500 a year since its launch in 1994. By the end of 1999, subscribers totaled about 20,000. Not bad, considering Fiji’s wireline network has just 77,000 lines.
Similarly, Guam’s cellular market is said to be increasing 10 percent a year. The island has a total of only 80,000 wirelines, compared with about 24,000 wireless subscribers divided among two carriers and six resellers.
Prepaid advances
Prepaid schemes such as Fast Fone also are important because they add to the convenience and ease mobile telephony promises, while removing barriers such as credit checks, contracts and connection fees. In Fiji’s case, customers can purchase either a starter pack if they already own a mobile phone or a phone-in-a-box for Fiji$250 (US$127), which provides a phone, recharge card, battery, charger and subscriber identity module (SIM) card.
A maturing dealer network also has had a vital hand in assisting growth. Fiji’s largest dealer, Freedom Fones, has been given much credit for galvanizing the market with giveaway deals, such as its Fiji$1 phone promotion aimed at low-use callers.
Call costs tend to be high and only in a few cases are decreasing. In the Marshall Islands, the operator, NTA, says its service is still profitable, but it charges a flat US$50 a month. Handset prices, like elsewhere in the world, are generally becoming more affordable.
The size of Fiji’s population has been key in allowing it to develop its cellular communications system. Most islands, however, lack the critical mass and economies of scale needed to either expand their networks or grow their markets. On islands with relatively small numbers of people, AMPS is the preferred technology because base stations enjoy farther reach than GSM, and AMPS networks are far cheaper to install.
The advent of CDMA may be another option down the track, and interestingly, the Cook Islands are holding off any expansion of an AMPS network with plans, according to Telecom Cook Island’s Chief Executive Officer Stuart Davies, to “leap frog” to a third-generation cellular system.
Other wireless systems
The Pacific Islands also rely on other forms of wireless communications, such as satellite, radio communications and, increasingly, wireless local loop (WLL), especially for more remote areas.
The Federated States of Micronesia, for instance, don’t have a cellular network, so the four islands communicate via the Intelsat satellite. A number of island states use the DAMA PacNet satellite for local traffic. In late 1999, the system was upgraded to digital, in part because of Y2K-compliance issues.
The Iridium satellite system, which operates in both a cellular and satellite mode, originally was seen as particularly beneficial to people in remote or underdeveloped areas and for disaster relief. For a region riddled with remote islands that have little or no infrastructure and are prone to hurricanes, typhoons and earthquakes, Iridium, in theory, is not only ideal but highly desirable.
By last December, Iridium South Pacific had struck service provider agreements with Telecom Vanuatu, Telecom Services Kiribati, OPT in Tahiti and Palau National Communications Corp. Fiji, the Federated States of Micronesia and Tokelau also have Iridium service.
However, the costs of using Iridium’s service are relatively high. Says Telstra’s Sturt Eastwood: “It costs more for a one-minute call on Iridium to an outer island of Kiribati than three to four days’ average wages.”
There are always other choices.
The Marshall Islands, yet to sign an agreement with Iridium, are looking to introduce a mini- satellite phone for the Inmarsat satellite service.
Other island
s are exploring the potential of WLL. For Vanuatu, which has a cellular AMPS service only in Port Vila, its communications network is
mostly WLL. Telecom Vanuatu uses a digital microwave service (IRT 2000) across 50 of its 82 islands and will invest about A$3 million (US$1.9 million) over the next five years to cover all islands. It is a far cheaper solution than cellular, said Daniel Fermine, head of Telecom Vanuatu.
WLL and satellite technologies also are more likely to deliver data as well as voice. Fiji will launch DECT WLL for fixed-line Internet in February.
Intelsat and the Pacific Islands Telecommunications Association also proposed last year to implement satellite-based Internet services.
