Pacific

Scheme aims to bring high speed internet to all in Tuvalu

18:12 pm on 9 June 2014

The Tuvalu Telecommunications Corporation has signed a deal that aims to bring high speed internet to all of Tuvalu.

The multimillion dollar, five year satellite broadband deal with Kacific Singapore is expected to begin in late 2016, and plans to supply cheaper and faster broadband to the entire country.

The general manager for the Tuvalu Telecommunications Corporation, Simeti Lopati, says while the aim is for 100 percent coverage of the nation, schools are a key priority.

"At the moment, the schools and the medical clinics on the outer islands, they don't have internet connection speed. Although the departments, they are quite advanced at looking at e-learning, but then the major bottleneck is to get the internet to the schools and the clinics."

Simeti Lopati says the government has been trying to invest a lot into education and health, and he believes having internet on the outer islands will help those efforts.

He says it will also provide an important connection between the outer-islands and the main capital island, as well as the rest of the world.