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CHOGM gripe; Jobs for the boys; Weighty travels; Voice of Australia
Merger in sight for Fiji telcos? Another huge monopoly looks possible in Fiji if an MOU is signed between the country’s telecom conglomerate Amalgamated Telecom Holdings (ATH) and UK giant Cable & Wireless (C&W). It has not been made public but sources say officials are in exploratory talks to merge C&W interests in Fiji with ATH in a proposed new entity to hold all existing telecom businesses in the ATH portfolio, three of which are operating on exclusive licenses. These include exclusive local carrier Telecom Fiji Ltd (100% ATH), exclusive mobile operator Vodafone Fiji (51%Telecom Fiji/49% Vodafone plc), Internet service provider Connect (100% TFL) and exclusive international carrier FINTEL (49% C&W/51% Fiji government managed by ATH).
A very complex issue that will need to be ironed out is the shareholding of these companies and it is not known at this stage whether the Fiji government will let go of its shareholding in FINTEL. Its finance minister Mahendra Chaudhry had earlier stated when delivering the national Budget 2008 last November that the government will not sell any shares in companies it has interests in.
The Fiji government recently announced a decision last November to open up its telecommunication market after it co-signed with incumbents what has been called the Radisson Telecom Accord, an agreement in principle to open up the market.
While the Fiji government has endorsed the accord, the incumbents have yet to return to government on their decisions.
The Radisson Telecom Accord effectively sets a platform for post-deregulation to be played on open market, where existing and new players can come in and participate in any market segment they wish to operate in. However, because of the structure of ATH as a monopoly, its executives and legal experts have had to look at ways to rationalise the entire operation in order that related companies don’t kill each other in the event of open competition. Technology-wise, the ATH portfolio comprises:
TFL: Domestic IP-based optic fibre cable network around main island Viti Levu, satellite data and telephone service delivered via VSAT, CDMA 2000 with voice/data/video capabilities, fixed WiMAX in urban centres via Connect and GSM 900 mobile network via Vodafone Fiji.
FINTEL: Access to Southern Cross Cable Network (plus a Landing Party Agreement with cable owner SCCN Ltd to manage cable access until 2025), WiMAX in domestic market (just launched, limited coverage).
Racing in Raro? Yes, that is the smell of sporting panic starting to drift across the seas from Rarotonga. The controversial, much debated proposed indoor sports complex there is needed for more than next year’s Mini Pacific Games. The Cooks are also due to host the 2009 world youth netball championships. They need the stadium to do this. As the debate continued, reports from Raro suggested construction must start early this year if all is to be ready next year.
Voice of Australia: The Aussies make great play of their efforts to help build up government broadcasters in the Pacific Islands. Projects in Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands are examples. So some wonder why at the same time the Aussies are cutting into the audience of local broadcasters by busily setting up local FM relay stations of their own Radio Australia. Recent additions are broadcasting Radio Australia to audiences in the Cook Islands (Rarotonga), Papua New Guinea (Lae), Kiribati (Tarawa) and Vanuatu (Santo). They join Port Moresby; Honiara; Port Vila; Suva and Nadi; and Nuku’alofa stations promoting an Aussie view.
Job for the boys: Remember the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat’s aviation adviser, Seiuli Alvin Tuala, who hails from Samoa and who travels the Pacific advocating that PIASA (Pacific Islands Air Services Agreement) is good for the region because it will solve the airlines’ aviation woes, despite the regional airlines’ opposition? Well, WHISPERS has been told he has the thumbs up to head the Pacific Aviation Security Office in Port Vila which was set up by the Forum Secretariat.
Talking about jobs: Is it likely that PNG’s Aviu Tauvasa could be heading to Port Vila soon to head the Melanesia Spearhead Group (MSG) Secretariat? Ms Tauvasa is currently the trade commissioner at the Pacific Islands Trade and Investment Commission in Sydney, Australia. Her Sydney job was advertised recently in a regional magazine. Her first job could be organising the MSG Leaders Summit to be held in Port Vila in February which will coincide with the opening of the MSG Secretariat, built by the Chinese. The secretariat was to have been opened last September.
Party-loving PM: Never let it be said Cook Islands PM Jim Marurai doesn’t enjoy a party. He gave his office a full mid-December working day off to have their Christmas Party on Rarotonga’s Muri beach. The ever vigilant Cook Islands News checked out the PM’s office to see if anyone was manning the desks at the central office of national power. It said it found a lone groundsman on guard.
Jahir’s reasons: So what was really the reason(s) for the Solomons’ police chief, Fiji’s Jahir Khan, to desert his men in their hour of need? WHISPERS has been reliably told there were two reasons why he had to leave Honiara—just a few days before a motion of no confidence in Manasseh Sogavare was tabled in parliament. One of the reasons was to attend an interview with the US embassy in relation to his green card application. The other was in relation to a family commitment. Then Opposition national security spokesman, William Haomae told the local media in Honiara that Khan ‘should have been in the country to supervise security as politicians attempt to resolve the political impasse in the floor of parliament. Could it be that Khan got an advance intel that Sogavare was going to be toppled in the vote of no confidence?
CHOGM gripe: ACP secretary-general Sir John Kaputin of PNG wasn’t happy with how he was treated at the recent CHOGM meeting in Kampala, Uganda. He felt he deserved a better treatment when one considers that he looks after 78 member countries compared to the Commonwealth’s 53 member countries.
The Ugandan coconut wireless reported that when Kaputin arrived in Kampala, there was no one waiting for him and no official transport to get him to his hotel. He had to find his own way to his hotel by hitching a ride on a bus. He was there as a guest speaker for one of the CHOGM sessions.
No landing yet: Aussie airline Sky Air World and Solomons partners are talking enthusiastically about flying a new route. They want to send their Embraer jet from Brisbane to Munda on New Georgia, taking visitors straight to where Solomons tourism is strongest. Munda’s runway, built during World War Two, is definitely long enough. One problem. There’s not much else at the airport. Before any international jet flights land, Munda airport’s going to need someone to front up with millions to upgrade it to international standards
Monopolising Honiara: Solomon Telekom, now rebranded as Our Telekom, is positioning itself to fight off the pending challenge to its lucrative telecommunications monopoly by Digicel. Having used the courts to block Digicel’s immediate arrival, Telekom is now grabbing the television air waves to promote its cause. It is using its facilities to broadcast on three of the scarce Honiara frequencies. A new third channel is being rapidly expanded with some local content. But repeated promotion of Our Telekom and its services seems to be priority, according to recent Honiara watchers.
C and W v. Digicel: That battle for the Solomons telecom market is a little personal. It’s a continuation of international battles between Britain’s Cable and Wireless and Irish-run rivals Digicel. Our Telekom CEO Martyn Robinson is a veteran of many years with Cable and Wireless. C and W is also Our Telekom’s second biggest shareholder. C and W has done well out of the Solomon Islands connection. They don’t relish fast-growing newcomers Digicel getting a foot in the door.
Weighty travels: So who’s not surprised by the flap in Samoa over the abrupt departure of headline-grabbing weightlifting trainer Paul Coffa and his Oceania Weightlifting Institute? This, after all, is the same Aussie who came and went from Nauru, Guam, and then Fiji before the Samoa experience. Now he’s shifting camp to New Caledonia. Where next?
Media questions: As we’ve said before, the news media take justifiable pride in being the public watchdog. So never let it be said WHISPERS doesn’t keep a watch on the media too. Growing question of the moment in regional media circles is this: Is it true two of the five current executives of the regional media body PINA definitely don’t qualify for their posts if PINA follows its constitution?.
Local tourists? Question in the tourism circles in the Solomons is why the Solomon Islands Visitors Bureau and the tourism ministry are pumping scare promotional dollars into Honiara TV programmes? Wouldn’t that money be better spent overseas getting tourists to the country? is one question being asked. Could there be what’s known locally as a ‘wantok’ connection involved, is another.
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