As Measure 2.1.1 of the Pacific Regional E-commerce Strategy and Roadmap recommends, there is the need to expand the submarine cable infrastructure and its affordability in the Pacific to ensure all Forum Island Countries (FICs) are connected to main international cables and broadband bandwidth is acquired with the best value for money approach.
The arrival of submarine cables in the Pacific has led to a significant drop in the cost of the internet and a rise in internet speed and penetration. However, some FICs (Nauru, Tuvalu, and Kiribati) still lack access to submarine cable infrastructure. The same holds for most outer islands of archipelagic FICs. The bandwidth provided by most cables remains strong around landing zones, whereas coverage beyond a particular radius is reported to be slow and unreliable. Small size, geographical isolation and dispersion of FICs discourage private investments and imply that the cost of distributing connectivity in the Pacific remains high by international standards – which represent a serious obstacle for the diffusion of E-commerce. Private-Public Partnerships are needed to expand and diversify the regional submarine cable infrastructure.
You can access a webpage with all the submarine cables in the Blue Pacific Continent and the rest of the world here.
