The Telecommunications Act has been amended by Parliament that aims to connect Fijians facing connectivity issues.
While speaking during the debate on the bill, Minister for Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says they have a Project Manager that is identifying specific areas in Fiji that are not connected.
Sayed-Khaiyum says the Universal Service Fund is from mobile phone companies where they give a certain percentage from their gross revenue and this fund is applied to give services to people who do not have connectivity.
Sayed Khaiyum adds before erecting any tower on i-taukei land, they will consult the landowners.
He was responding to Tanya Waqanika’s comment to work with landowners.
Waqanika also says government should also engage experienced engineers like Richard Lucas and Shiv Nath.
Waqanika says with too many masts on one tower, we would put all our eggs in one basket. She says if that tower goes down then connectivity will be lost in all areas.
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Minister for Rural and Maritime Development Inia Seruiratu says the bill to amend the Telecommunications Act is long overdue to connect the unconnected.
Seruiratu says work has to continue in the areas that do not have mobile and internet connectivity.
He says this is one of the issues the people of Lau even raised during his recent visit.
Seruiratu says getting the unconnected areas connected is also very important for search and rescue operations as they lost the late former Turaga Na Tui Macuata just next to Nukubati Resort in Vanua Levu because there was no mobile phone coverage in the area. The late former Tui Macuata, Ratu Aisea Katonivere died while fishing near the Nukubati area.
Attorney General and Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says they have identified 300 sites in Fiji that do not have any connectivity.
While moving the motion to debate the bill to amend the Telecommunications Act 2008 in Parliament, Sayed-Khaiyum says under the current law, if they identify an area that is not connected, they have to call a tender to see which mobile phone companies want to go there.
Sayed-Khaiyum says there is a need to amend the Telecommunications Act because they want to move quickly in connecting the 5 percent of Fijians who face issues regarding connectivity.
He says in the past few years they have been working with mobile, radio and TV companies and have reached an agreement on shared infrastructure in some areas.
The Attorney General says they are looking at one tower with many transmitters for these unconnected areas rather than having many towers in one small area because companies will not have to fork out that much money.
Meanwhile SODELPA MP Lynda Tabuya has questioned how these towers will be powered in the rural areas because they depend on generators at the moment.
Tabuya says during the funeral of the late former Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase in Lau, there was no supply of this service one night because the generator ran out of diesel.
Debate on the bill to amend the Telecommunications Act will take place later today.
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The government is now making an assessment on how the Universal Service Fund can be utilized to connect the unconnected communities.
Calls are being made by people in parts of the Northern Division to look into their plight as some areas have no phone, mobile phone and internet connectivity.
Some of the residents that have raised concerns have told Fijivillage that they have never been connected, they want to know when they will have these much-needed services and whether the Universal Service Fund will be utilized to get them connected.
The data levy introduced last year and the telecommunications service licensing fee has been replaced with a single 2% revenue-based telecommunications licence fee.
Half of a percent of that new, simplified fee is going into the existing Universal Service Fund set aside for the continued development of Fiji’s telecommunications industry.
We have received complaints from some of the residents living along the coastline from Seaqaqa to Bua.
They have told us that there is hardly any phone, mobile or internet connectivity in areas like Naqumu Village in Seaqaqa, parts of Naduri, Raviravi in Macuata, Naividamu village, Niurua, parts of Nabouwalu, Wairiki, Navakasiga, Lekutu, Dreketi and other areas.
Naividamu Village. [image: maunieofardwall.blogspot]
We have also been informed that it has been really hard for these residents as they have to go to certain places from their villages and settlements to get mobile reception.
Some people have told us that if there is an accident along the Highway on the coastlines, sometimes no one is aware, or it will take time for people and even authorities to find out about it.
Some residents also say that the reliable Ezytel service from TFL has also been discontinued in these areas.
Residents in parts of the Central, Western and Eastern divisions who are also facing connectivity issues are seeking answers and timelines on when telecommunications infrastructure will be set up in their areas to ensure they are connected.
Minister for Communications Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum had a ICT stakeholders meeting earlier this week, and is now awaiting the plans to be put forward by the companies.
Sayed-Khaiyum says there are options like the utilisation of the Universal Service Fund, use of the 23 Walesi towers and co-siting.
Sayed-Khaiyum says the questions that need to be addressed are what can the government do to put another tower, what can companies like Vodafone and Digicel and what can Walesi do.
He says they do not want a child in a maritime area to lose out because the children in Suva have fantastic connectivity.
The Minister also says the government has over $1 million from the World Bank to connect Vanua Levu to the Southern Cross Cable – and they are planning to connect nursing stations, schools etc to the internet.
Sayed-Khaiyum says this needs to be done quickly.
He also says that there is no point in companies outdoing each other but we need a collaborative approach.
The Attorney General also says there are 4 or 5 media companies but they don’t share their towers. He says this is a problem as site sharing will also reduce capital costs for companies.
Stay with us as we will also speak to TFL, Vodafone and Digicel on the issue being raised by residents in unconnected areas.
Digicel Fiji CEO Farid Mohammed says their engineers are still working to upgrade their network as part of their $30 million investment in areas where there is no coverage.
Mohammed highlighted this when questioned by LegendFM News on some complaints that have been received on the poor internet connectivity in some areas.
He says they will have to do it in phases and they will continue to monitor this as they have received overwhelming support from their All In promotion.
Mohammed adds they have had their fair share of challenges and one is the slight delay in the network upgrade as their vendors who supply their network equipment are from China.
This has delayed their rollout process, but it has not stopped. He says Digicel Fiji has invested over $100 million in the 4G and 5G networks to support offers that they bring into the market.
Mohammed says they have put the hard yards in to liberalize the telecommunication market.
The CEO had earlier highlighted that a $14 million first phase upgrade of its sites in the main centres in Suva, Nadi, Lautoka and Nausori has been completed to help improve data capacity.
He had said its first phase upgrade has also increased coverage in maritime areas and across Vanua Levu.
Mohammed had also highlighted that another $16 million will be invested into upgrading the rest of its networks to meet future demand.
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