Member countries and territories of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) have welcomed two major initiatives that are aimed at bridging the communication divide in the region.

Speaking at the 37th meeting of Committee of Representatives of Governments and Administrations (CRGA 37) in Apia, Samoa, American Samoa's delegate Toetasi Tuiteleapaga said that, like other countries at the meeting, American Samoa is very excited about the initiatives.

Australia will fund the Pacific rural satellite interconnectivity system (Pacific RICS) and France has committed to funding the SPIN submarine cable network. Both projects, which are spearheaded by SPC and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, are aimed at improving access to communications technology, especially in rural areas.

"We see this as an economic development initiative. American Samoa has been trying to bridge its digital gap, so to say, and SPIN is but one of the projects American Samoa is working on," said Tuiteleapaga, American Samoa...’s Chief Legal Adviser to the Governor.

Fiji's delegate to CRGA 37, Foreign Affairs official Veretariki Lomalagi, said the digital strategy is very important to the people of the Pacific. Lomalagi said it complements the work of the Fiji Government in trying to deregulate the telecommunications market. "The high cost of telecommunications services is something the people in Fiji are talking about a lot, and the implementation of this project will surely bring about competition ...– which would definitely lead to a reduction in the cost of telecommunication services."

The Kiribati High Commissioner to Fiji, Reteta Nikauta-Rimon, said connectivity is a development issue for her country. "The prospects of having these solutions for countries like us would certainly promote not just greater awareness and connectivity between the main centre of administration and the community, but also bridge the isolation of our people."

Tonga's Deputy Secretary in the Prime Minister...’s Office and its delegate to CRGA 37, Falekava Kupu, said the digital strategy will be very useful for Tonga in the long term. "It will complement existing educational and teaching aids. For over 40 years we've been using radio as a teaching aid reaching out to remote islands. I think that this project here will complement that."

SPC's Director-General, Dr Jimmie Rodgers, called on CRGA 37 to consider engaging in these types of technology. "The fact is, they are there. Before, they were not there or they were too expensive. Now they are there, and it is the role of governments to consider rolling them out so that they can benefit more of their communities."

Dr Rodgers acknowledged the assistance provided by Australia and France for the two projects.

"We would encourage all member countries to think seriously about RICS and invest in it so that they can actually spread the benefits to the rest of the community. For the 12 countries in the SPIN project, we'd encourage you to engage seriously so that the benefits of unlimited bandwidth lower-cost communications can hit your countries and put you on the same page as developed countries in communication. We also urge this CRGA to encourage ministries of education to analyse the OLPC [One Laptop Per Child] initiative to see how useful that technology might be for education systems," said Dr Rodgers.

"And, most importantly, we urge the regulatory sector to encourage national telecommunications regulators ...– which are normally part of governments rather than the private sector - to look at issuing licences on VSAT for 'public good' institutions like schools, clinics, police posts and administrative centres in rural areas, to give them real potential for accessing this technology."

SPC member countries and territories: American Samoa, Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji Islands, France, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, United States of America, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna. SPC, 09/11/07.