Keeping the
p. 41 · Read in the full issue
Advertising Feature
Keeping the Pacific in touch
Cable & Wireless’s first involvement with the Pacific region dates back to the 1870 s when the British Australian Telegraph one of the many companies amalgamated under the Cable & Wireless shingle in 1932 opened the All-Sea Australia to England Telegraph. And so successful was it that Cable & Wireless continued to operate Australia’s international telecommunications from then until nationalisation in 1946 ... only to return as a 24.5 per cent shareholder in Optus Communications, which was granted domestic, international and cellular licences in a nascent duopoly environment early in 1992.
The group has an equally long-standing relationship with New Zealand where another C&W company, Eatsern Extension, Australasia and China Telegraph Co opened a telegraph service between Botany Bay and Blend Bay in Nelson way back in 1876 and continued to supply all New Zealand’s international services until the wave of nationalisation in Commonwealth countries after World War 11.
As for the Pacific islands, Cable & Wireless presently operates international services in Tonga and in conjunction with the governments of the states concerned in Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. Fiji is the longest running of these operations with the franchise originally granted to a Cable & Wireless branch operation in 1902 from which Fintel (51 per cent owned by the Fiji government, 49 per cent by Cable & Wireless) evolved in 1976.
Cable & Wireless also participates in the operation of domestic networks in the Solomons and Vanuatu, increasing its equity participation in Vanuatu, late last year and combining the international and domestic activities under a new company called Telecom Vanuatu Ltd.
Fiji
According to regional director, Asia Pacific, Peter Jackson, Fiji would like to have the most modern in technology and the highest quality of telecommunications sendee. “It therefore makes sense to seek out partners with funds, technology and experience to enable us to provide these sendees. However, nationalism and a desire to control its own destiny means that Fiji does not always follow the logical solutions to its problems.”
Tonga
Tonga’s satellite earth station is a symbol of its willingness to embrace the benefits of new technology. Cable & Wireless built the earth station in 1978 as part of its franchise obligation to the Tongan government to provide the people of Tonga with high quality international telecommunications. By the middle of last year, customers calling Australia, USA and New Zealand benefitted from digital technology and computer users were offered packet switched data services.
Solomon Islands Solomon Telekom Co Ltd, or “Telekom” as it is locally known, launched three new services last year Pagenet (the first public paging system for the islands); Elatanet (data can be transferred rom a customer’s office to virtually anywhere in the world via a racket switch) and Cardphones (the first ever telephone card in :he Solomon Islands, in denominations of SIS 10, SIS2O and 51550).
Vanuatu Since 1989 Telecom Vanuatu has effected an upgrade of the Hecom network in conjunction with Cable & Wireless pic and "ranee Cables & Radio, each holding a third equity and the government holding the balance. Managing director Henri Ramirez said, “Digitalisation is near full completion with the ntroduction of digital exchanges, digital microwave and digital ural network. Advanced telecommunications like data trans nission, packet switching, leased channels, digital’s PABX’s, irivate networks are already developed in Vanuatu, making it one )f the most modern networks in the South Pacific.” □