Solomon Islands is a tiny developing country with a challenging topography of nearly one thousand scattered islands; more than 70% of its 707K+ population live and work in rural areas and villages. This means that next to transportation, communications are crucial for its overall development and growth.
Everything changed in 2019 with the Coral Sea Cable System project, connecting the Solomons to PNG and Australia, for which Australia provided the majority of funding.
The cable project shook up the telco market and has created many new opportunities. A shining example is locally-owned Internet Service Provider SATSOL.
The internet services provider has grown rapidly to become the second largest fixed broadband operator in the country.
SATSOL CEO Anthony Ferris says “It’s hard to believe, but before 2019, the entire country had limited and expensive satellite-only communications with fixed and mobile plans, where 1 GB of data cost USD $8-12,”
“In fact, mobile data rates were up to five times more expensive than in Australia”
“In the last two-and-a-half years the island has seen dramatic changes – many new households and businesses are now connected to the Internet, and people are using more mobile data.”
“Numerically speaking, Solomons now consumes up to ten times the bandwidth for less than one-fifth the price of satellite.”
“Undoubtedly, SATSOL has made a tangible contribution to the broadband transition in the country and will continue to develop its network,” said Ferris.
SATSOL had been closely monitoring the Coral Sea Cable System project since 2017. That’s when the team launched the Fibre Ready strategy. By following the plan, they increased domestic capacity of the network in October 2019.
SATSOL CTO Igor Karmanov says “Satellite services still play an important role in the remote provinces but nowadays most data is routed through the high-speed and low-latency undersea cable.”
“The fact that this Islands nation now has access to the full Internet is nothing short of miraculous,” said Karmanov
The initial infrastructure project included a fixed LTE network in Honiara and Auki, deployment of many more microwave sites across the country, and backhaul upgrades. It allowed SATSOL to onboard a significant customer base to the network.
The second ongoing phase is based on the FTTx future-proof approach with gigabit connections for residential and business premises.
In parallel, SATSOL introduced multiple add-on services for corporate customers, such as an International Private Leased Circuit (IPLC) with the Exchange in Sydney, Domestic Leased Circuit (DPLC), SD-WAN, colocation facilities, and other business products.
Ferris added, “Another important point in our work is information security; SATSOL is an ISO/IEC 27001:2013 – Information security management systems certified ISP.
“At SATSOL, we are pleased that the Coral Sea Cable System gave a jumpstart to the industry and created a new fixed Internet market, providing a life-changing experience for Solomon Islanders,” said Ferris
