Fiji-based Siaosi Sovaleni, information and communications technology outreach coordinator of SPC, said all 22 island members of SPC have access to the Internet but the coverage varies depending on their location and some don’t even have computers.
“Some of these islands only have 100 people. It’s not economically or financially feasible,” he said, referring to Internet connection.
SPC is a nonpolitical organization which has been serving island communities in the Pacific region for over six decades now.
Its members include: 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 Marianas, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, United States of America, Vanuatu and Wallis and Futuna
Sovaleni said the Marshall Islands, the Solomon Islands and Kiribati have the poorest internet coverage in the Pacific, which is home to about 8 million people.
He made a brief presentation yesterday before the leaders of the Northern Marianas, Guam, the Marshall Islands, Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and its four states of Chuuk, Kosrae, Yap and Pohnpei who were participating in the 13th Micronesian Chief Executives’ Summit, which concludes today.
He said for remote islands, information and communications technology is crucial to healthcare, education and in warming people about natural disasters.
