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

The Tonga government’s move to form the new Tonga Communications Corporation is making sluggish progress. It has far to go before it could be in a position to take over the running of the international service from Cable and Wireless plc and the domestic telephone services from the Tonga Telecommunications Commission.

Tonga Telecom’s Busby Kautoke said that during November and December, “there has been very little progress.”

Busby explained that there were seven parts to the process of establishing the TCC, including legislation, corporatisation, the establishment of a department and others. “The Bill was not presented to the House this year, and a regulatory government department has not been formed.” Busby said that the New Zealand government was helping with the drawing up of a charter and while work was progressing in some areas, “they are standing still in others.”

There was talk of 2,000 new telephones for Tongatapu after the telephone exchange system of Tonga Telecom changed from monologue to digital this year, but Busby said that they were now hoping to be able to establish 1,000 new lines every year. They had been working in Ha‘apai  and more recently in Tongatapu. “Tongatapu is divided into four parts and we are starting from Hala Liku,” he said.