Regional telecom experts meet in Tonga [1]
Wednesday, April 22, 2015 - 18:26. Updated on Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - 13:41.
The Pacific Island Telecommunications Association (PITA) 19th Annual General Meeting and Trade Show is being held in Nuku’alofa this week with more than 200 telecommunication experts and businesses attending from around the region.
The Acting Prime Minister Hon Siaosi Sovaleni hoped the meeting would reflect on its theme, ‘Developing Smart Islands’ will contribute towards shaping the future direction for the development of the ICT sector. At the opening he said the Government of Tonga has been working closely with organisations such as PITA to help guide Information and Communications Technology(ICT) development.
“ICTs in the form of mobile cellular services are now within reach of almost everybody in the world. ICTs have been transforming the way we work, do business, educate and provide health services, interact and the way we think. ICT has accelerated the growth of our economies and is providing a powerful tool in tackling challenges such as climate change," he said.
Although they had successfully brought people online, they still have two thirds of people in our region to be offered the same opportunity. “It is our hope to have our entire population access to ICTs full benefits,” he said.
"This meeting is both important and meaningful, as our challenges in ICT keep growing; here we will be able to discuss and share strategies to overcome them and other unforeseeable circumstances."
At the same time, Ivan Fong the President of PITA said we need to apply technology and solutions that are available to benefit our markets, our people and customers.
Rizvi Jurangpathy, CEO of the Tonga Communications Corporation (TCC) the host of the meeting in welcoming the participants said TCC is one of the longstanding members of PITA, which provided them with knowledge and experience.
Sessions include panel discussions of enabling policies for Pacific Islands, industry and operator challenges, discussions towards ubiquitous networks and industry presentations and other sessions. Participants include representatives from Trendtek Australia Pty Ltd, Telecom NZ, Alcatel-Lucent, Huawei and Acclinks and others.
PITA was formed in 1997 in response to specific regional circumstances at the closure of the Telecom Technical Division of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.
The meeting and trade show runs from April 20-24 at the Fa’onelua Convention Centre in Nuku'alofa.