More than two hundred guests, employees, spouses and friends attended the merriment.
FSM Telecom chief operation officer John Sohl and FSM Resources and Development Secretary Peter M. Christian gave welcoming remarks while FSM President Manny Mori presented he keynote address.
Mori said the FSM is proud to take note of a key milestone.
“Our very own telecommunications have come a long way from analogue to digital technologies with rapid expansion of Internet and cellular telephones, so common with our children today,” he said.
According to the president, “modern technologies have changed the way we conduct business, educate our children, provide healthcare and simply communicate with each other. Therefore, we cannot deny the fact that telecommunications is a necessary tool for today’s economic and social development.”
There is no doubt that the way forward will be challenging and complicated, he added, as FSM “faces a significant number of constraints and challenges in our effort to keep up with the global trends to embrace modern technologies and potential benefits.”
He said “most formidable are the high cost for equipment and technologies, and access and connectivity to the Internet, and the need for increased capacity for bandwidth.”
He added, “As you may be aware, FSM Telecom is at present, making effort to connect Pohnpei to the submarine fiber optic cable to insure global connectivity for Pohnpei by the end of 2009…, I will do my utmost to ensure that these broadband services and products are extended to the other three states in our federation to ensure that we maximize important investments for the benefit of all our people.”
