From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 14, no. 4, December 1999.

Tonga’s current internet charges should be seen in the context of remote Pacific Islands, and are on par with those islands that do not have a subsidised internet, said Jon Morris, the General Manager of Cable & Wireless plc Tonga.

In replying to claims that Tonga’s internet service is too expensive, Jon asked, “in comparison to where? You compare with continental mainland prices then, of course, our charges would appear to be high. Although I understand that in some parts of the outback in Australia, the charges are higher than ours with a lower speed service.

“600 subscribers are not many by any standard in today’s internet business climate.”

Jon said that many factors influence tariffing, “such as economies of scale, expensive satellite access charges, government surcharges and high level of royalties, to name but a few.

“However, we continue to look for ways to reduce our costs and pass on those savings to our customers as evidenced by the reductions over the past two and half years of operation. We have managed to reduce charges for high-volume users to 12.5 seniti per minute —a lot cheaper than a phone call to Vava‘u from Tongatapu!”

Jon said that Cable & Wireless was not a monopoly Internet Service Provider in Tonga. “In fact both Tonga Telecommunications Commission and Cable & Wireless are authorised to provide the service as is anyone else (after government approval) on the proviso that they have direct access circuits with the USA. When the high costs are considered it is small wonder that not one other company in Tonga has offered to provide the service,” he said.