Displaying items by tag: Solomon Islands

When the phrase "the Pacific family" is used by the Australian Government, one knows what is happening: some Australian politician has gone across to one of the Pacific islands, handed out a bit of dosh, and tried to heavy the natives to fall in line with Australian policies. Which mirror American policies – or perhaps that last bit goes without saying.

A recent report maps the price of electricity in every country around the world.

After a long time, Telstra has literally hit the jackpot with a business move: the company has fallen in with the Australian Government's wishes and jointly acquired Digicel's business in the South Pacific, something that the US has pushed Australia to do.

Telstra's decision to acquire Digicel Pacific is a political decision, Australia's top independent telecommunications analyst Paul Budde says, adding that it would never have happened without the involvement of the government.

The Australian Government's move to push Telstra to buy Digicel appears to contradict the policy it has adopted in order to ban Huawei from having a role in the country's 5G networks.

Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Fiji are set to be the first Pacific countries to have access to more Australian television content delivered through the Australian Government’s PacificAus TV initiative.

The Vocus Group has completed the final splice of the 4700km Coral Sea Cable System which provides a fibre optic link between Australia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

The Vocus Group has begun work to lay the part of the 4700-km Coral Sea Cable System that connects Honiara and Sydney, with a ceremony held in the Solomon Islands.

H2 Cable and SubCom have signed a contract for the supply and installation of the H2 submarine cable system that will be the first to connect Australia and Hong Kong, with direct access to China.

The Pacific Islands have the lowest mobile Internet penetration rate in the world at 18%, but the mobile operators trade body, GSM Association, says the region has great potential and is on the cusp of a digital revolution.

A minister in the Papua New Guinea government has said that his country will honour the agreement it has made with Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei Technologies to build its Internet infrastructure, snubbing offers by the US, Japan and Australia to step in instead.

Australia, along with Japan and the US, is once again trying to elbow out Chinese telecommunications company Huawei from building a cable system, this time an internal one in Papua New Guinea.

Telecommunications provider Vocus Group has seen a 16% drop in profit for the financial year 2018, with the company recording $127.1 million compared to $152.3 million for the previous financial year.

The Vocus Group has signed a contract with Alcatel Submarine Networks to build a 4000-kilometre subsea cable linking the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Australia.

The Vocus Group has opened a new line of debt to the tune of A$1.27 billion and NZ$150 million, with the same interest cover and gearing ratios but with a new net leverage ratio to provide what it calls "financial headroom and flexibility".

In what should come as no surprise, the Federal Government has awarded the contract for building the sub-sea cable between Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Sydney to the Vocus Group.

Huawei Australia chairman John Lord says the company has not been officially advised either way about its bid to participate in Australia's 5G rollout, even as reports claimed that the company would be excluded.

Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Telecommunications appears unlikely to be allowed to provide equipment for 5G networks in Australia, due to alleged national security concerns, a report claims.

Australia and the Solomon Islands will sign a deal on Wednesday for the first stage of construction of an undersea cable system linking the Solomons and Papua New Guinea to Sydney. It will cost Australian taxpayers in excess of $100 million in toto.

Australia has confirmed that Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei will have no role in an undersea cable system linking the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea to Sydney, with an announcement that Canberra will provide the majority of funds for the project.