Figure
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1.
ABSTRACT
This paper explores the telecommunications and information infrastructures
of the microstates of the Pacific Region and analyzes its implications
for the ability of these countries to participate in the emerging
Global Information Infrastructure (GII). Specifically, this
paper explores the question of whether the recent telecommunications
developments will enable Pacific Islands countries to "leap-frog"
into the GII or whether narrowband networks and services will
continue to be the dominant but "backroad" GII interconnection
for the Pacific Region.
2.
INTRODUCTION
There is considerable dialogue in developed countries about
the ongoing convergence of computing, communications,
and entertainment
technologies, and the development of "National Information
Infrastructures" (NII). These discussions often focus
on the continuing revolution in telecommunications and information
technologies and the role of the NII in economic and business
development; consumer services such as entertainment, video
on demand, and interactive multimedia; and, public service
applications such as distance education and telemedicine.
The
underlying assumption of these dialogues is that bandwidth
via optical fiber cable, direct broadcast terrestrial and
satellite
services, and any other emerging and appropriate technology,
will be available to carry the market and application requirements
inexpensively.
The discussions within the developed nations are parallel to
discussions at the regional and international forums focused
on the interconnection of the country NII networks to form
a
"Global Information Infrastructure." Meetings of
the G7, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), Asia-Pacific
Telecommunity (APT), and other regional and international organizations
have had many discussions on the development of a GII. These
regional and international organizations are addressing the
many issues of international cooperation, development communications,
trade liberalization, and standards.
The continuous revolutionary developments in technology, coupled
with the deregulation of telecommunications within nations,
trade liberalization of telecommunications among nations, and
the dialogues over national and global information infrastructures
have encouraged some Pacific Islands observers to suggest a
possible "leap-frog" in the telecommunications and
information infrastructure by the Pacific Islands Region, even
to a point beyond the developing countries of the Pacific Rim.(1)
While it is hopeful that a leap-frog will occur, there are many
policy, market, and other barriers that will have to be overcome
to allow such a desirable progression into the future.
The purpose of this paper is to explore the telecommunications
and information infrastructures of the microstates of the
Pacific
Region and the implications for the ability of these countries
to participate in the emerging Global Information Infrastructure.
Specifically, this paper explores whether the recent telecommunications
developments will result in a "Pacific leap-frog"
into the GII or whether narrowband networks and services will
continue to be the dominant but "backroad" GII interconnection
for the Pacific Region. The paper reviews developments in the
Pacific Region in relationship to world wide trends, discusses
barriers to development of an information infrastructure, identifies
public service telecommunications as an area for priority development
and suggests an agenda for policy makers in the Pacific Islands
Region.
3.
THE PACIFIC ISLANDS REGION
A brief review of the Pacific Region is appropriate since it
is sometimes difficult to comprehend the extent of the vast
distances, small island land masses and populations, and huge
differences between the smallest and the largest countries of
the region.(2)
The Pacific Region as shown in Figure 1 consists of thousands
of islands scattered throughout the Pacific. The vast physical
distances among these countries is best illustrated by looking
at the water area of the region about 54 million square kilometers
or 21 million square miles of ocean. The Pacific Ocean covers
one third of the world and the small land masses of the Pacific
Islands together with their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ's)
of surrounding ocean are larger than the land masses of the
continental United States and Latin America combined.
Table 1 shows at a glance, the population, land area, sea area,
and political status of the Pacific microstates. The table shows
the relative small populations and vast sea areas in the region.
Papua New Guinea (PNG), Fiji and the Solomon Islands are the
most populous countries of the region and have over 80% of the
region's population.
Table 1 also shows the great differences between Pacific countries.
Papua New Guinea, for example, has a land mass of 462 thousand
square kilometers and a population of 4.2 million people
compared
with Niue with 259 square kilometers and a population of 2,500.
The countries, in general, are not well endowed with natural
resources and are very dependent on foreign aid. Some exceptions
are Papua New Guinea, because it has diverse and rich resources,
and Nauru because it has low population and very high per
capita
incomes due to its rock phosphate resource. The economies of
most Pacific Countries are based on subsistence agriculture
and fishing with pockets of export potential in mining,
deep
sea fishing, tourism, small scale manufacturing, and some specialized
agricultural products. Many of the smaller countries are
without
any natural resources except the ocean surrounding them.
Nearly all Pacific countries are dependent on foreign aid, which
on a per capita basis across the region, is the highest in the
world. Dependence on foreign aid is itself an issue both for
donors as well as for recipient countries. There are large differences
in the relative abilities of Pacific countries to absorb this
aid effectively and growing signs of aid fatigue are evident
among donors. It is clear that not many Pacific countries will
be able to continue even their current low growth rates should
the donor countries continue to retreat from the region.
It is useful therefore to differentiate the Pacific countries
according to their relative ability to build a potentially viable
economy at current or reduced levels of aid. One key indicator
in this regard is their ability to develop their telecommunications
infrastructure and integrate it with the GII.
4.
DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS IN THE PACIFIC
REGION
The domestic and international telecommunications infrastructures
of the Pacific countries have improved dramatically over the
past 20 years, although a few countries continue to lag behind
in their domestic communications particularly as measured in
telephone lines per 100 of population.
4.1 DOMESTIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS
The progress in the development of the telecommunications infrastructure
in the Pacific Islands Region has been a priority, during
the
past two decades, for governments and regional institutions,
such as the South Pacific Forum Secretariat. Before the
prioritization,
the general telecommunications environment of the Pacific Region
can only be described as primitive. There were very few
switches
and telephones and most inter-island links were by HF radio,
often of World War II vintage. Satellites were not used
for
domestic communications because Intelsat, the dominant satellite
operator, at that time, provided only for international
services.
Today, a survey would reveal a dramatic improvement in both
domestic and international telecommunications and the information
infrastructure as a whole.
Table 2 shows the service level deployment of lines for telephony
service and government ownership. The table also shows
that
several of the Pacific countries have a significant number
of main lines per 100 of population and nearly all of the
countries
have established digital switches in their main urban centers.
Table 2 also shows that the ownership of the telecommunications
infrastructure generally remains in the hands of government
or government corporations. The Commonwealth of the Northern
Mariana Islands (CNMI) and the Republic of the Marshall
Islands
(RMI) are notable exceptions. Telephone companies in the CNMI
are completely privately owned and in the RMI the National
Telecommunications
Authority is also a private corporation with 30% of the shares
owned by government.
4.2 INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS
International telecommunications in the Pacific Region have
also improved dramatically during the past 20 years. The Pacific
countries almost without exception have replaced old HF radio
serving international routes with satellite services, most of
which have already been converted to digital carrier technology.
Submarine cable systems which provide international connectivity
to some island countries are mostly the incidental landings
of intercontinental cables installed to carry trans-Pacific
traffic. These links traditionally have provided excellent service
to a few fortunate Pacific countries but their numbers are shrinking
as new technology cables span greater distances, minimizing
landings for shore based service facilities.
Table 3 shows the submarine cables that have been deployed
or planned. Many more are in the North rather than in
the South
Pacific. Figure 2 shows the submarine cable network in the
Asia-Pacific Region in the 1980's and Figure 3 shows the
optical fiber submarine
cables that are planned or in service. Together, these figures
show that the only countries in the region that are served
by
submarine cables are Guam, Fiji and Papua New Guinea. The
CNMI is expected to have fiber connectivity in 1996 that
will link
Saipan, Tinian, and Rota to Guam.(3) Palau is in the process
of investigating the possibility of a fiber connection.
An interesting situation that will come about with the further
installation of submarine fiber cables is the retirement
of
copper cables. As this process proceeds, there will likely
be a reduction of countries that will have cable access.
Fiji and
PNG, for example, may be in danger of losing their cable feeds
since it is no longer necessary to land the new technology
cables
as often for power feeding and maintenance access. The economic
cost of landing the fiber cables has not been justified
by the
small communications markets in these Island Countries.
Satellite communications have been, and will continue to be
for the foreseeable future, the principal international
telecommunications
infrastructure of the Pacific Region.(4) Intelsat is the almost
exclusive satellite carrier of public telecommunications
in
the Pacific and has full Pacific coverage through its global
and hemispheric satellite footprints. Although there are
many
commercial satellites with footprints covering parts of the
Pacific these new satellites are not being used by Island
Countries
for their public telecommunications networks, and little if
at all for other services. None of the high power spot
beams
on any of these satellites is primarily focused on the Pacific
Region for obvious market reasons.
The new satellite technologies likely to impact soon on the
Pacific are the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) systems. However,
it appears
likely that these systems will not be designed for broadband
applications. As such, they will not be able to replace
the
missing high power spot beams from the geostationary satellites
and so will not be capable of providing Pacific connectivity
with the broadband information highways in the developed
world.
Of more concern, therefore, is the narrowband service which
LEO's will deliver in the Pacific. Those LEO systems with
large
footprints and gateway earth stations which are too expensive
to deploy in the Pacific Countries and will be biased
towards
providing only international services, unless the LEO itself
can provide the links on both sides of the gateway for
a domestic
connection. The alternative is for the LEO operator to negotiate
a very inexpensive backhaul via conventional satellite
or cable
facilities and that does not look a likely proposition given
the small traffic volumes involved.
Those LEO systems which have footprints too small to cover the
distance between Pacific Islands and Pacific littoral countries
will not be able to provide any service at all unless their
gateway stations are affordable in the Pacific Countries. It
is too early yet to be sure what the outcomes will be and exactly
what sort of narrowband services the LEO's will be able to provide
in the Pacific.
5.
INTERNET IN THE PACIFIC AND THE GII
For many Pacific countries "Internet," next to basic
Telephone service, is one of the most important telecommunications
services to government, education, and other nonprofit institutions.
Access to information, electronic mail, and the ability to
transfer computer files are important to many government and
educational institutions, and especially regional organizations
that have a need to communicate with other organizations around
the world.
With over 70 million users and almost every organization of
size connected in some way in the developed and emerging economies,
Internet is viewed as one of the most important communications
tools to help overcome some of the severe information barriers
to development which impact on Pacific countries.(5)
The traditional transport of written and printed information
is through the postal service. In the Pacific, the postal
service can take anywhere from three days by special delivery,
one
to two weeks normally, and perhaps up to two months given
the remoteness
of some destinations in the Pacific. Thus, it is no surprise
that Internet, and more specifically electronic mail, is
viewed
by the developing microstates of the Pacific Region as a means
to reduce disparities in access to needed resources.
Ultimately, Internet is poised to become a means to improve
education, enhance health and welfare services, facilitate
economic
development, and to enable participation of Pacific people
in the GII. The growth of Internet and the information
and
services that are available through the Internet, suggest that
it could become the most important single factor in reducing
the "information gap" between the developed world
and the developing countries of the Pacific.
There are several reasons why the use of Internet, especially
its interactive services, has been limited in the Pacific
Region.
First, there is a general lack of understanding of its potential.
Most of the potential users of Internet in the Pacific
have
yet to experience "surfing the net" or even the exchanging
of electronic mail. This lack of understanding and experience
makes it difficult for both users and policy makers to be able
to understand the benefits and value of Internet.
Second, the cost of dial-up telecommunications are high and
there are no policy frameworks, programs, or other subsidies
which lessen the very high cost of connecting to the Internet
through a voice circuit via Australia or New Zealand to the
West or the USA to the East. The international telephone per-minute
rates for calls in the Pacific countries are considerably higher
than they are developed countries. The rates may vary from 75
cents per minute to $3.00 per minute, depending on the time
of day and day of week the call is made. The cost of "dial-up"
calls simply puts this method out of reach for the Pacific market,
even for batch mail transfers through "UUCP" type
connections.
The cost of leased services is also very high. For example,
as reported by Okamura, Blake, Lam and Mukaida (1995:811), "the
University of the South Pacific (USP) at the Suva, Fiji campus
is currently paying $90,000 Fijian annually (about $60,000 US
Dollars) for a 4.8 Kbps link from Fiji to Australia."(6)
The dedicated circuit is used solely for USP access to Internet.
This bandwidth will not support Internet applications beyond
electronic mail and other text services for its user population
but it is far better than not having any Internet services.
The high cost of leased services also inhibits Internet access
from the extension centers of USP.(7)
To address both of these barriers to access, the Forum Secretariat
Telecommunications Division proposed a "value-trial"
of Internet in the Pacific Region. The trial began service in
Fiji in December 1995. The purpose of the trial is to provide
a subsidized Internet service for as many participants as possible
from Fiji and other Pacific countries to test the market and
to generate a core of knowledgeable Internet users. The ability
to provide a trial subsidy for a limited time period was made
possible by provision of international transmission from Telecom
New Zealand and Fiji International Telecommunications Ltd. By
this means, it is hoped that entrepreneurs in the Pacific will
also develop their knowledge and use of the network to export
Pacific information to the world as well as to import information
and E-mail from the world for use in the Pacific.
Access to Internet and electronic mail is better in parts of
the North Pacific. There are several Internet and electronic
mail service providers in Guam, the Commonwealth of the
Northern
Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and American
Samoa. However, the cost of the services is still beyond
the
financial means of many public service institutions and the
general population.
Today, Guam has the most developed Internet environment both
for the public as well as the private sector. There are
several
options for electronic mail access through the competitive
international carriers and small companies. The University
of Guam also has
a 64 Kbps link to the University of Hawaii used for educational
purposes. The Guam link costs about $48,000 per year.(8)
There
are also other Internet providers for the private sector. In
the FSM, CompuServe and other services are available through
an economy packet network service.
6.
"PUBLIC SERVICE" NETWORKS IN THE PACIFIC
At the same time as there is a growing awareness of the importance
and usefulness of an information infrastructure in the
Pacific
Region there is also a renewed interest in "public service"
networks, some of which have been around for many years. "Public
Service" telecommunications have been defined broadly
by Okamura and Mukaida (1995:14) as "the use of telecommunications
and information technologies by government, educational, and
nonprofit organizations for education, medical and health services,
emergency management, environment and resource management,
and economic development."
In most developed countries the use of telecommunications and
information technologies for public services are well-developed
and accepted concepts. Public radio, public television,
and
rural distance education and telemedicine programs are a few
examples of subsidized programs in developed countries.
In many
developing countries, however, the concept has not been fully
developed or even explored in depth. Further, in the past,
the concept of public service telecommunications has been
mostly
regarded with suspicion if not hostility by established monopoly
Telco's, but attitudes are changing and there is good cause
for optimism for the future of these services.
The increasing awareness of the potential of "Public Service"
telecommunications operators in the Pacific Islands region
may be attributed to four major sources. First, regional organizations,
especially in the South Pacific, have been aggressively promoting
a telecommunications and information infrastructure for their
own organizational purposes. Regional organizations must maintain
communication with their constituencies and a good telecommunications
infrastructure is essential.
Second, regional organizations led by the Forum Secretariat
have been directing attention to the regulatory issues
and on
opportunities for organizations, both mainstream telecommunication
carriers and those on the fringes, to contribute to improved
service delivery and affordability of both basic and value-added
services.
Third, programs such as the Telecommunication and Information
Infrastructure Assistance Program of the United States
have
generated considerable interest by government and educational
institutions in the information infrastructure.
Finally, experimental programs such as the Pan Pacific Education
and Communication Experiments by Satellite (PEACESAT) and Pan
Pacific Regional telecommunications Network Experiment and
Research by Satellite (PARTNERS) have provided a stimulus to
advance concepts of public service telecommunications. The fact
that PEACESAT, which already provides basic access to Internet
for some government, education, and non-governmental users throughout
the Pacific, is being up-graded to increase its digital capacity,
connectivity and service in the Pacific Islands Region has caused
great interest.(9)
There are several existing satellites that provide limited
services for "Public Service" network operators
without charging for the space segment in both the North
and South Pacific. These
satellite systems have very limited capacity and are primarily
designed for other purposes. PEACESAT, for example, uses
a satellite
that was originally designed and launched for weather data
gathering purposes.(10) The Japan "PARTNERS" network,
which is used for distance education and telemedicine
experiments
in Fiji, PNG, and Hawaii, uses the ETS-V satellite which was
originally developed for mobile satellite communication
experiments.(10)
Intelsat also has a SHARE program that enables microstates
to use excess bandwidth on a preemptive basis.(11) Parts
of the
University of the South Pacific Network used the Intelsat SHARE
links for a period of time.(12)
7.
BARRIERS TO A PACIFIC INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE
There still remains a considerable gap in both basic and advanced
services despite the fundamental improvements in the telecommunications
and information infrastructure of countries in the Pacific
Region. Cutler and Associates (1994) suggests that the
gap in
basic telephony services will take many years, perhaps decades,
to overcome if capital investment remains at present levels.
This indicates that, at best, the existing gap between
Pacific
countries and their neighbors of the Pacific Rim will stay
much as it is at present for basic telephony services,
neither reducing
nor increasing. The gap for value-added services and the information
services of the future is likely to widen because of the
inability
of Pacific countries to gain access to the benefits of optical
fiber and V-SAT technologies which provide inexpensive
digital
bandwidth.
In many advanced countries attention is being given to extending
the present definition of basic service on which notions
of
community service obligations of telephone companies are both
based and costed. The basic service of the future is likely
to be able to deliver a range of simple information, facsimile,
banking, and other services made possible by digital technology,
on top of the basic voice service. The conventional view
is
that there is little chance of such a redefinition of basic
service in the Pacific Region until the plain old telephone
service is available to everyone.
This view, however, is in stark contrast to at least one Pacific
observer who suggests that "all is not as bleak as it sounds."
Ogden (1995:593), for example, acknowledges that "[a]ccording
to conventional wisdom, ... [it] appears that the Pacific Islands
states and territories are much too small, too poorly endowed
with resources, and too isolated from the centers of economic
growth for their inhabitants ever to rise above their present
condition of dependence on the largess of the wealthier metropolitan
nations." However, Ogden argues that "[a]s pernicious
as this view has been in past as well as present development
planning in the Pacific Islands, all is not as bleak as it
sounds.
In a perverse way, many of the Pacific island nations are fortunate
that they have lagged so far behind the curve when it comes
to telecommunication technologies. Rapid technological advances
in digital telecommunications coupled with declining costs
mean
that latecomers can 'leap-frog' to a level of services not
much different from those that even the relatively rich Rim
countries
could only have dreamed of five years ago."
This optimistic view must be evaluated in relationship to the
realities of the Pacific Islands region. There are several
important
barriers that contribute to the continuation of the availability
gap in both basic and value-added services. First, the
geography,
low population and absence of an abundance of natural resources
in the Pacific countries will continue to be a barrier
to the
development of telecommunications and information infrastructures
in the region. In essence, this barrier translates as insufficient
capital investment to service profitable opportunities
and
to cross-subsidize unprofitable but socially desirable services.
Second, and understandably, there are conflicting views of
the value of such an infrastructure. There is always a
real question
as to whether scarce budget resources should be spent on books
or computers. Although we are not addressing such issues
here,
it is important that they be at least acknowledged. Further,
there are always questions about the impact of new communications
technologies on Pacific cultures and whether the imposition
of these developments are in the interests of the Pacific
peoples
or those of external countries and companies. These conflicting
views are not often documented but are ever present in
discussions
of the Pacific Islands Region.
Third, there is a lack of trained personnel to support the
development of an information infrastructure within many
of the Pacific
countries. This problem cannot be resolved through a one-time
training program, but requires a continuous effort in
human
resources development.
Fourth, there is no contemporary policy framework to support
the development of a national information infrastructure
in
many of the Pacific countries. The institutional and regulatory
disability in most countries derives from their colonial
legacy
of legislation and regulation which was framed many years ago
and which in most cases remains in place today. In some
countries,
even the advent of corporatized or partially privatized telecommunications
service providers has not significantly altered this situation.
Even in those countries which have established a framework
of
policy and legislation commensurate with contemporary structures
of the service providers, these new frameworks are often
too
rigid to allow evolutionary changes at the speed which is desirable
given the market place changes happening now. Some of the
exclusive
joint venture franchise agreements negotiated in the relatively
recent past are seen now as too inflexible to be always
in the
best national interest.
At the same time, Ogden may be correct in postulating that
Pacific countries will be able to participate fully in
the enhanced
capability of the basic telephone service, or at least those
people who have a telephone and can afford the costs will
do
so.
Most Pacific countries have converted their international links
and their main switches from analogue to digital technology.
This creates the technical possibility for enhanced services.
However, it is a much more risky proposition to forecast
when
basic services will be available to everyone in the Pacific
region and just as difficult to predict when digital services
will be delivered to customers premises. There are few
indications
that the digital revolution can extend to Pacific countries
as rapidly as it has in the developed world.
8.
PACIFIC INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE - AN AGENDA FOR POLICY MAKERS
In summary, any discussion of an NII or GII based on high-capacity
networks for the Pacific Region is simply irrelevant today.
The microstates of the Pacific Region, with the exception of
Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,
and
perhaps Palau, will not be connected via fiber to the international
grid in the foreseeable future. Further, even though there
are
many satellites that have footprints over the Pacific, there
is presently little indication that these footprints will
put
high satellite power (EIRP) onto Pacific countries to facilitate
the inexpensive V-SAT services and private broadband networks
that are available in the Northern Hemisphere. This chronic
lack of inexpensive bandwidth in almost all countries
will
mean that the dominant mode of connections from the Pacific
into the GII will continue to be based on narrowband links,
at least for the foreseeable future.
This will lead to the development of a Pacific Information
Infrastructure which is far different than those of developed
countries and different even from developing countries
of East
and Southeast Asia. For the Pacific Islands Region, the need
is for more telephones, more basic data communications,
basic
access to electronic mail and file transfer services, and better
radio and television services. The GII for the Pacific
means
the effective interconnection of these services with the rest
of the world, and in particularly, it means access to electronic
mail and the Internet, and the creative applications of
narrowband
technologies in high potential areas such as trade and economic
development, education, and health and medical services.
At the same time, the development of the narrowband Pacific
infrastructure is no less important for the prosperity
of Pacific
countries than the development of a broadband infrastructure
is in other parts of the world. Accordingly, the development
of a domestic Information infrastructure and its connections
to the emerging global information infrastructure should
become,
once more, a priority area of interest for policy makers in
the Pacific Region, as was the development of the telephone
network in the 1980's. A revitalization of interest in
the information
infrastructure is a precondition to ensure that the "telecommunications
gap" does not widen further, especially for value-added
and information services.
The recognition of such priorities should ideally lead to discussions
among stakeholders - government and education policy makers,
users, carriers, public service carriers, and others (e.g.
regional organizations and non-governmental organizations)
to
develop appropriate regional strategies, programs, and regulatory
changes designed to benefit both national and regional
interests.
Many difficult issues will need to be addressed in order to
build on the successes of the past to secure the benefits
of
the revolution in telecommunications and information technology.
Some of these issues include the redefining of roles and
relationships
among users, ministries and carriers, the optimizing of the
role of the "Public Service" telecommunications
networks, the development of appropriate reinvestment
strategies for telecommunications
carriers, and the pricing and cross subsidies for value-added
services. "Public Service" networks promoted
by the University of Hawaii and innovative experiments
by the
South
Pacific Forum Secretariat are offered as examples of how a
Pacific Information Infrastructure is being actively promoted.
These
activities should be seen as complementary and vital to the
participation of Pacific microstates in the future Information
economy, and not competitive with the mainstream operators.
Although in the past most Pacific countries have been preoccupied
with national rather than regional issues there have been
a
few outstanding, successful regional initiatives. The PACT
DAMA network promoted by the Forum Secretariat and largely
financed
by Australia is one of these, and the PEACESAT network, initiated
by the University of Hawaii and funded with U.S. assistance,
is another.
The long term availability of space segment capacity for "Public
Service" network providers is another very important
concern for policy makers and for Pacific Countries. Up to
now, the
National Telecommunications and Information Agency (NTIA) of
the U.S. Department of Commerce has been almost alone in leading
the discussion on the future possibilities for the continuing
availability of this very valuable resource. Today, it may
be
timely for a regional interest group of NGO's, regional organizations,
Island Counties and principal donor's of aid programs in the
Pacific to collaborate on this very important question.
9.
CONCLUSIONS
There is no indication that technology will become available
in the foreseeable future which will enable people and
countries
of the Pacific Region to afford to participate in the broadband
information infrastructure which is rapidly evolving in
the
Northern Hemisphere and Asia. Unit costs and prices in the
sparsely populated Pacific may never be as low as they
will be in the
developed world. At the same time, the real needs of Pacific
people can be met, and a very effective interconnection
with
the global information infrastructure can be developed using
narrowband technology, provided that the application of
this
technology is sufficient to cover the entire region.
Low earth orbit satellite technology will obviously present
some opportunities for the Pacific but, like nearly all
communications
technologies designed for application in other parts of the
world, some adaptation either technically or organizationally
is likely to be required if an optimum application is to
be
achieved for island countries. Likewise with existing, and
other emerging technologies it is likely that the policy,
organizational,
and regulatory issues will be more important than the technology
itself in determining the information future of the Pacific
Region.
There are some indications that these policy, organizational,
and regulatory issues are being addressed by countries
and regional
organizations. For example, in the South Pacific, the Forum
Secretariat has been closely involved in technical training
and technology planning issues of telecommunications for
the
last two decades. Now the focus of the Forum Secretariat has
shifted to the institutional and regulatory issues and
promotion
of value-added and information services to complement basic
voice services. It has also shifted to a concern for the
consumers
of telecommunications that are not being served by traditional
service providers.
Women, community organizations and grass roots providers of
education, health and welfare services are high on the
list
of consumers of telecommunications that are not being well-served.
This reality must be viewed against the background of falling
aid to the traditional telecommunications sector. The implication
is that aid in the future for telecommunications is likely
to
target telecommunications consumers rather than traditional
service providers. NGO's and regional organizations currently
providing such grass roots services are likely to be well
placed
in the contest for what aid funds continue to flow in the telecommunications
sector as we approach the end of the 1990's.
In the North Pacific, there are also indications that these
issues are being addressed. The Association of Pacific
Island
Legislatures, for example, has established a committee that
is attempting to address telecommunication issues and to
develop
a regional program effort in the area of telecommunications.
The Pacific Basin Development Council (regional organization),
the Pacific Caucus of Emergency Managers (Users), the
U.S.
Department of Interior, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management
Agency, and PEACESAT have collaborated to initiate the
development
of an Emergency Management Network. Guam is seriously studying
the possible privatization of its telecommunications corporation.
The resilience and creativity of the regional organizations
and the persistence by which government policy makers,
administrative
ministries, and users seek to address these issues will be
very important factors in the future of Pacific telecommunications
and the development of an appropriate Information Infrastructure
for the Pacific.
* * * * *
ENDNOTES
* The opinions and the interpretations in this paper are those
of the authors and do not necessarily represent, nor do they
purport to represent, the views, opinions, or the work programs
of the South Pacific Forum Secretariat or the Social Science
Research Institute of the University of Hawaii.
Parts of the data for this study are based on research funded
in part by the Hawaii Information Network Corporation.
1. The idea of a "leap-frog" is ever-present in papers
discussing telecommunications in the Pacific Islands region.
In 1983, for example, Karunaratne (1983: 93) suggests that "[t]he
Pacific Islands Nations face the prospect of leap-frogging into
an information era from a subsistence economy." Twelve
years later, the same sentiment is echoed by Ogden (1995). These
views emphasize the promise of telecommunications and information
technology, but, unfortunately, tend to ignore important policy,
political, cultural, and economic (market) barriers that would
enable the leap-frog to occur.
2. There are very large differences among the Pacific Island
microstates in culture, geography, political organization, extent
of urbanization, and so on. These differences cannot be explored
in this paper, but need to be acknowledged at the start.
3. "Tenorio signs lease for fiber optic cable." Marianas
Variety News and Views, November 11, 1995. The article reported
that the cost of telephone calls between CNMI and the continental
U.S. will be $.55 per minute. The article cited the current
costs for voice telephony at $1.85 for the 1st minute and $1.75
for each subsequent minute.
4. See Cooperman (1995) for a useful discussion of satellites
in the region.
5. No one really knows how many computers are attached to the
Internet. However, the latest estimate reported by Dr. Haruhisa
Ishida, President of the Internet Society, at a meeting of the
Asia-Pacific Telecommunity held in Tokyo, Japan (October 17,
1995), is 70 million.
6. The same information on the cost of Internet was reported
by John Clayton, Manager of the Computer Center at the University
of the South Pacific, at the 11th World Communications Forum
in Shibuya, Japan, October 2627, 1995. His estimate was that
USP pays U.S. $50,000 for the 4.8 Kbps link to the Australia
Research and Education Network through TELSTRA.
7. In the South Pacific the USP operates Extension Centers in
12 other countries. Due to the cost of leased line telecommunications
in the region, none of these centers except for Fiji can access
Internet on a 24-hour, 7 day-a-week basis.
The high cost and low service of this access led the USP to
hire a consultant to explore the potential of a consortium to
purchase additional bandwidth to support both the University
and a group of other NGO's. The report of the consultant recommended
that a link of 19.2 Kbps be leased to initiate such a group
service.
8. The cost of the link was reported by Dr. Hiro Kurashina,
Director, Micronesian Area Research Center, the University of
Guam, at the Honolulu Meeting on the Guidelines for Distance
Education in the Pacific Islands, Sasakawa Peace Foundation,
Honolulu, Hawaii, January 26, 1995.
9. See Okamura and Mukaida (1995, September; and 1994) for a
discussion of the current and planned directions of PEACESAT.
10. PEACESAT currently uses an obsolete geostationary weather
satellite, GOES-2, provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The satellite
has a very limited bandwidth of 10 MHz and low power. As such,
it has a limited capability for support of the Pacific.
11. The Japan PARTNERS Network was established by the Japan
Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications in celebration of International
Space Year in 1990. The network enables sites in Fiji and PNG
to participate in distance education seminars and discussions
through the use of the Engineering Test Satellite (ETS-V). The
video teleconferences are 64 Kbps.
12. The Intelsat links used by USPNET include Fiji, Tonga, Cook
Is, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Fiji. HF is used in Western Samoa,
Tuvalu, Niue, Nauru. The Marshalls, Kiribati, Tokelau have no
access. Intelsat originally donated the use of these links for
a period of time. It is not known how much the links currently
cost.
13. The USPNet consists of a single voice circuit used mainly
for the administration of the extension program. Tutorials are
also supported through the network. USP was a leader in the
early 1970s in the use of satellite communications for "distance
learning." Today, the extension program is essentially
a correspondence program with tutorial support provided by faculty
and local tutors. These developments were supported by USP's
access via PEACESAT from 19721985.
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