From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 16, no. 3, December 2001.

The Tonga Communications Corporation finally launched their GSM Mobile telephone U-call service on December 14 and their customers in Nuku‘alofa couldn’t wait to get their hands on them.

The Prime Minister and the Chairman of the TCC Board of Directors, Prince ‘Ulukalala Lavaka Ata launched the service by calling his daughter, Princess Mata‘aho in San Francisco. Later in the day, Princess Nanasipau‘u opened the new U-Call retail shop in central Nuku‘alofa, and was the first subscriber to be issued with a mobile telephone.

Rush

Following the opening, there was a rush by the public to buy mobile phones. Taiatu Cocker, the Sales Manager, said that sales during the first few days were beyond expectations, and in the first four hours, the sales reached $13,000.

“Our target is 2,000 connections during the first year, but I think it will be around 5,000 connections.”

Taiatu said she was very happy with the way things were going with their new service but, “there are a few problems which we would like to polish up before we launch Vava’u early next year.”