Efforts are under way in Fiji to muster the support of the 14 indigenous provinces for the issuing of the country's mobile phone service licence.
The Fiji Sun reports that the new chief executive of the Ba Provincial Holding Company Ratu Tevita Momoedonu, will hold a meeting with the Naitasiri Provincial Council in a move to persuade the government to issue the licence to Pacific Connex.
Ratu Tevita says they need the support of the chiefs of Naitasiri because they have their connections with the government.
Pacific Connex is jointly owned by the Native Lands Trust Board's commercial arm, Vanua Development Corporation, and businessman Ballu Khan, who began operations in Fiji in 2004 by selling the SAP software to the NLTB.
The paramount chief of Naitasiri Ratu Inoke Takiveikata, who is serving a life sentence in Suva Prison, has urged the prime minister to give Pacific Connex the mobile phone licence.