SAMPLE - South Pacific Islands - Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

South Pacific Islands
Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband

Statistics and Analyses
BuddeComm Sample
14th Edition
Researcher: Kylie Wansink
Published: 12 June 2019
Copyright 2019
Paul Budde Communication Pty Ltd

GPO BOX 3327 Sydney NSW 2001 AUSTRALIA
Tel 02 8076 7665 Email: pbc@budde.com.au www.budde.com.au
Int: +61 2 8076 7665
South Pacific Islands - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses
Executive Summary
Executive Summary
The South Pacific Islands are benefitting from improved telecoms
infrastructure
The South Pacific Islands have recently attracted international interest due to the infrastructure
developments occurring in this unique part of the world. In particular, there have been numerous
submarine cable build-outs and expansion of satellite services.
The demand for data based services in the Pacific region is growing, aligning with similar trends
around the world. In particular, the demand for mobile broadband is increasing due to mobile
services being the primary and most wide-spread source for Internet access across the region.
The three largest countries in terms of population include Papua New Guinea, Fiji and the
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Solomon Islands. While Papua New Guinea has the largest population by far, it provides
opportunities for significant growth considering its mobile penetration is still low at just over
30%. However there are challenges to be overcome before significant growth can occur.
It is the second largest island of Fiji which is currently considered to be one of the key markets
to watch due to it being the most advanced economy in the Pacific island region as well as
hosting the highest mobile and Internet penetration. It is also leading in terms of preliminary 5G
readiness.
The third largest island, the Solomon Islands, still relies upon 3G mobile and satellite services
as its primary means of both communication and Internet access and it will benefit from the
submarine cable and satellite developments occurring within the region.
While there are many local operators, there are also regional players including Digicel, which has
operated in the Pacific for some time. Recently we have also seen Amalgamated Telecom
Holdings (ATH) from Fiji expanding regionally with various acquisitions.
© Copyright Paul Budde Communication Pty Ltd, 2019

Website: www.budde.com.au
Executive Summary
International organisations such as United Nations, The World Bank and Asian Development
Bank have taken a special interest in seeing the general living conditions as well as
communication services improve in the Pacific region. It has become recognised that access to
high-speed internet can vastly improve the economic and social conditions in these emerging
markets; many of which are prone to natural disasters and rising sea levels.
This BuddeComm annual publication provides valuable information, analyses and current
statistics on the telecoms markets of the seven largest countries in the Pacific region. It focuses
on the markets of Papua New Guinea, Fiji, The Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, French Polynesia, New
Caledonia and Samoa. The report includes a regional overview, identifying the key trends and
leading operators. It provides insights into the mobile market of each country including mobile
subscriber and mobile broadband statistics. Information on the fixed broadband market and
statistics is also included with a particular focus on submarine cable and satellite
developments.
Key developments:
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 The Pacific Islands region, also known as Oceania, is a unique part of the world and is
prone to natural disasters and rising sea levels.
 2G services are still in widespread use in many Pacific Island Countries (PICs).
 Satellite services are set to improve for the region with the planned deployment by Kacific
Broadband Satellite.
 There a number of submarine cable deployments underway in the region.
 Fiji is leading the way in both 4G LTE deployment as well as 5G readiness.

Executive Summary
Companies mentioned in this report include:
Kumul Telikom; Telikom PNG, PNG DataCo, Bmobile (Vodafone), Digicel, Amalgamated
Telecom Holdings (ATH), Telecom Fiji Limited (TFL), Fiji International Telecommunications
Limited (FINTEL), Kacific Broadband Satellites, Southern Cross Cable Network (SCCN),
Vodafone Fiji Limited (VFL), Inkk Mobile, Unwired Fiji, Fintel Internet Services (Kidanet), Our
Telekom (Breeze); Bmobile-Vodafone; O3b, Solomon Island Submarine Cable Company, Office
des Postes et Télécommunications de Nouvelle-Calédonie (OPT-NC), Amper SA, Blue Sky
Samoa, Telecom Vanuatu Ltd (TVL), Office des Postes et Télécommunications (OPT); Tahiti Nui
Telecommunications; Galileo; Vini; Honotua Cable; Vodafone Polynesia.
Kylie Wansink
June 2019
BuddeComm Sample

Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Regional overview 1
Telecoms industry statistics by country 5
■ Population by largest country 5
■ Mobile subscriptions by country 6
■ Mobile penetration by country 7
■ Mobile broadband subscriptions by country 8
■ Mobile broadband penetration by country 9
■ Fixed broadband subscriptions by country 11
■ Fixed broadband penetration by country 12
Regional operators 13
■ Digicel 13
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■ Amalgamated Telecom Holdings (ATH) 14
Telecommunications infrastructure 15
■ Submarine cable overview 15
New submarine cables deployments 16
■ Satellite 19
■ Looking to the future: 5G 22
Papua New Guinea 23
■ PNG: Telecoms market overview 23
■ Mobile market 25
Mobile operators 25
Mobile infrastructure 27
Mobile statistics 28
■ Fixed market 29
Fixed network operators 29

Table of Contents
Fixed broadband infrastructure 30
Fixed broadband statistics 32
Fiji 34
■ Fiji: Telecoms market overview 34
Mobile operators 35
MVNOs 38
Mobile Infrastructure 39
■ Fixed market 43
Solomon Islands BuddeComm Sample 55
■ The Solomon Islands: Telecoms market overview 55
Mobile operators 56
■ Fixed market 61
Vanuatu 64
■ Vanuatu: Telecoms market overview 64
Mobile operators 66

Table of Contents
Mobile Statistics 70
■ Fixed market 72
Submarine cable 73
French Polynesia 75
■ French Polynesia – Telecoms market overview 75
Mobile operators 76
■ Mobile infrastructure 76
3G 76
4G LTE BuddeComm Sample 77
■ Mobile statistics 78
■ Fixed market 79
Submarine cable 81
Satellite 81
New Caledonia 84
■ New Caledonia: Telecoms market overview 84
Mobile operators and infrastructure 85
■ Fixed market 87

Table of Contents
Samoa 90
■ Samoa: Telecoms market overview 90
Mobile operators 90
■ Fixed market 94
Submarine cable 96
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Table of Contents
List of Tables
Table 1 – South Pacific - mobile subscriptions by largest countries – 2014 - 2019 6
Table 2 – South Pacific - mobile penetration by largest countries – 2014 - 2019 7
Table 3 – South Pacific - mobile broadband subscriptions by largest countries – 2014 - 2019 8
Table 4 – South Pacific - mobile broadband penetration by largest countries – 2014 - 2019 9
Table 5 – South Pacific - fixed broadband subscriptions by largest countries – 2014 – 2019 11
Table 6 – South Pacific - fixed broadband penetration by largest countries – 2014 – 2019 12
Table 7 – South Pacific – submarine cables – largest countries – 2019 18
Table 8 – Satellites operating in the Pacific region 21
Table 9 – Papua New Guinea - mobile operators’ market share – 2014; 2016; 2018 25
Table 10 – Digicel PNG mobile subscribers – 2014 – 2018 26
Table 11 – Papua New Guinea – percentage of mobile connections by technology – 2018; 2025 27
Table 12 – Papua New Guinea - mobile subscriptions and penetration – 2009 – 2019 28
Table 13 – Papua New Guinea - active mobile broadband subscribers and penetration – 2012 – 2019 28
Table 14 – Papua New Guinea - fixed lines in service and teledensity – 2009 – 2019 32
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Table 15 – Papua New Guinea - fixed broadband subscribers and penetration – 2009 – 2019 33
Table 16 – Vodafone Fiji Limited revenue – 2015 – 2018 36
Table 17 – Vodafone Fiji Limited mobile subscribers – 2009 – 2018 37
Table 18 – Fiji – percentage of mobile connections by technology – 2018; 2025 39
Table 19 – Fiji - mobile subscribers, annual change and penetration rate – 2009 - 2019 41
Table 20 – Fiji - mobile broadband subscribers and penetration rate – 2009 – 2019 42
Table 21 – ATH Group and Holding Company – revenue and operating profit – 2015 - 2018 45
Table 22 – Telecom Fiji – key financials – 2015 - 2018 47
Table 23 – FINTEL – sales revenue – 2014 – 2018 48
Table 24 – Fiji - fixed lines in service and teledensity – 2009 – 2019 53
Table 25 – Fiji - fixed broadband subscribers and penetration rate – 2009 – 2019 54
Table 26 – Solomon Islands – percentage of mobile connections by technology – 2018; 2025 57
Table 27 – Solomon Islands - mobile subscriptions and penetration rate – 2009 – 2019 58
Table 28 – Solomon Islands - mobile broadband subscribers and user penetration rate – 2010 – 2019 59
Table 29 – Solomon Islands - fixed broadband subscribers and penetration – 2009 – 2019 63
Table 30 – Vanuatu – percentage of mobile connections by technology – 2018; 2025 68
Table 31 – Vanuatu - mobile subscribers and penetration – 2009 – 2019 70

Table of Contents
Table 32 – Vanuatu - mobile broadband subscribers – 2011 – 2019 71
Table 33 – Vanuatu - fixed broadband subscribers and penetration rate – 2009 – 2019 74
Table 34 – French Polynesia – percentage of mobile connections by technology – 2018; 2025 76
Table 35 – French Polynesia - mobile subscribers and penetration – 2012 – 2019 78
Table 36 – French Polynesia - mobile broadband subscribers and user penetration rate – 2010 – 2019 78
Table 37 – French Polynesia – fixed broadband subscribers and penetration rate – 2009 – 2019 83
Table 38 – New Caledonia - mobile subscribers and penetration – 2009 – 2019 86
Table 39 – New Caledonia - mobile broadband subscriptions and penetration – 2015 - 2019 87
Table 40 – New Caledonia - fixed broadband subscribers and penetration rate – 2009 – 2019 89
Table 41 – Samoa - mobile subscribers and penetration – 2012 – 2019 93
Table 42 – Samoa - mobile broadband subscriptions – 2013 – 2019 94
Table 43 – Samoa - fixed broadband subscribers and penetration – 2009 - 2019 98
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Table of Contents
List of Charts
Chart 1 – Pacific island countries ranked by largest population – 2019 5
Chart 2 – South Pacific – mobile penetration versus mobile broadband penetration – largest countries - 2019 10
Chart 3 – Solomon Islands - mobile subscriptions versus mobile broadband subscriptions – 2010 – 2019 60
List of Exhibits
Exhibit 1 – Tonga to benefit from Kacific satellite 2
Exhibit 2 – Papua New Guinea - mobile operators and technology used 27
Exhibit 3 – Papua New Guinea - Kumul Telikom (Telecom) Holdings Limited 29
Exhibit 4 – Major submarine cables with landing points in Papua New Guinea – 2018 31
Exhibit 5 – Solomon Islands - Vodafone moved into the market in 2014 57
Exhibit 6 – Solomon Islands - Our Telekom at a glance 61
Exhibit 7 – Telecom Vanuatu at a glance 72
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Exhibit 8 – Telecom Vanuatu Limited – historical snapshot 72
Exhibit 9 – New Caledonia - OPT Nouvelle-Calédonie (OPT-NC) at a glance 87
Exhibit 10 – Samoa - BlueSky Samoa at a glance 94

Telecoms industry statistics by country
■ MOBILE SUBSCRIPTIONS BY COUNTRY
Papua New Guinea has the highest number of mobile subscriptions in the region,
with over million, which aligns with it also having the largest population.
However, in stark contrast, it also has the lowest mobile subscriber penetration
with only % - providing opportunity for much growth in the future. There are
though significant challenges to overcome for this to occur. The majority of PNG’s
population (over %) live in remote and rural areas with difficult mountainous
terrain. While 3G and 4G LTE services are slowly increasing in PNG (by ,
around % of mobile connections with be accessing 4G LTE) there are also
barriers regarding the costs of services being prohibitive.
In contrast to PNG, has the second highest rate of mobile subscriptions, and
also the highest mobile penetration for the region with %.
Table 1 – South Pacific - mobile subscriptions by largest countries – 2014 - 2019
Country
BuddeComm Sample Mobile subscriptions (million)
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 (e)
Papua New
Guinea
Fiji
Solomon
Islands
French
Polynesia
Vanuatu
New
Caledonia
Samoa
Source: BuddeComm based on GSMA, ITU and various industry data.

Note: 1 Includes multiple subscriptions. 2Includes largest 7 countries with populations of over 200,000 in the Pacific region
(excluding Australia, New Zealand). 3Table updated June 2019.
Please note: All $ are US$ unless stated otherwise
© Copyright Paul Budde Communication Pty Ltd, 2019 Page 6

Papua New Guinea
bandwidth and encourage market competition. It is managed by the state-owned

PNG DataCo (Kumul Telecom) which acts as wholesaler.
In addition, a new submarine cable is being built which will link PNG to Australia
and the Solomon Islands via the Coral Sea Cable System.
In November 2018 a further development occurred with the signing of a MoU

between Australia and APEC partners (including Japan and the USA) which will
see them work together to expand PNG’s fibre backbone utilizing the power grid
infrastructure. Once completed the broadband network will have significant
population coverage.
Despite some challenges, the country offers many investment opportunities. An

increasing number of Papuans are embracing the digital age, particularly the
younger generation, and mobile phones are becoming a more important source
of social interaction.
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■ MOBILE MARKET
Mobile operators
A merger of - , and during 2018 gave the newly formed

Kumul Telikom, an estimated mobile market share of around %.
Table 9 – Papua New Guinea - mobile operators’ market share – 2014; 2016; 2018
Operator 2014 Market share 2016 Market share 2018 Market share
Digicel % % %
B-Mobile % % %
Telikom PNG % % %
Source: BuddeComm based on NICTA data
Note: Based on subscribers. Table reviewed June 2019.

Papua New Guinea
Mobile infrastructure
Exhibit 2 – Papua New Guinea - mobile operators and technology used
Operator System
+ ( )
Digicel + ( )
( )
( )( )
(now Kumul Telekom)
+ ( )
( )
(now Kumul Telekom)
( )
Source: BuddeComm based on NICTA data
Note: Table reviewed June 2019.
Table 11 – Papua New Guinea – percentage of mobile connections by technology – 2018;

2025
Year 2G 3G 4G LTE
BuddeComm Sample Percentage of mobile connections
2018 % % %
2025 (f) % % %
Source: BuddeComm based on company and industry data

Notes: 1Table updated June 2019.

Fiji
Vodafone Fiji is focusing in opportunities in the enterprise sector going forward

including those offered by cloud based solutions. At the end of 2018 it had %
of the population covered by its 4G+ network. It is also trialling 5G and was the
first in the region to do so.
Vodafone Fiji is also keen to capitalise on the potential opportunities presented

by m-commerce and it was recently selected to facilitate an e-Transport project
which will see the introduction of cashless e-payments for travellers. By the end
of 2018 around citizens had registered in the e-Transport platform,
paving the way for Vodafone Fiji to potentially introduce other m-commerce
services.
Vodafone Fiji’s revenue has been steadily since 2015.
Table 16 – Vodafone Fiji Limited revenue – 2015 – 2018
Year Revenue
BuddeComm Sample (FJD $ million)
2015
2016
2017
2018
Source: BuddeComm estimates based on company data. Table updated June 2019.
In 2015 VFL acknowledged that the Fijian market had reached

and as a result the company was focusing on value-added services and mobile
broadband revenues going forward. Its mobile subscriber rate
during 2015 and 2016 and was in 2017 and 2018.

Fiji
Fintel’s international gateway switch has a capacity of approximately call

attempts per hour. The system also enables GSM international roaming for the
mobile telephony network.
In the deregulated environment, Fintel remains the sole agent for access to the
SCCN. This means that it maintains a practical monopoly on wholesale Internet
access until such time as a competitive submarine cable is run to Fiji or satellite
connections become more reliable and affordable.
In 2016 Fintel generated $ million in sales revenue, a rise from $ million in

2015, reflecting the growing demand for international bandwidth in Fiji.
Fintel was recently selected as the landing party for the Tui-Samoa cable which
connects Fiji to Samoa.
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In July 2018 Fintel further signed an Operations Management Agreement with the
Fijian government and the Savusavu submarine cable system which will see
connectivity speeds increase between Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. Funding was
provided by both the Fijian government ( million) and the World Bank via a
loan of million.
In August 2018 conditional approval was provided for a merger between and
by The Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission (FCCC).
Table 23 – FINTEL – sales revenue – 2014 – 2018
Year 2014 2015 (e) 2016 (e) 2017 2018 (e)
FJD $ (million)
2017
Source: BuddeComm based on company and industry data

Notes: 1Financial year ends March 31st.
2 Table updated June 2019.


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Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband

Paul Budde Communication Pty Ltd

© Copyright Paul Budde Communication Pty Ltd, 2019

 There a number of submarine cable deployments underway in the region.

 Fiji is leading the way in both 4G LTE deployment as well as 5G readiness.

© Copyright Paul Budde Communication Pty Ltd, 2019

Companies mentioned in this report include:

© Copyright Paul Budde Communication Pty Ltd, 2019

Telecoms industry statistics by country 5

■ Population by largest country 5

■ Mobile subscriptions by country 6

■ Mobile penetration by country 7

■ Mobile broadband subscriptions by country 8

■ Mobile broadband penetration by country 9

■ Fixed broadband subscriptions by country 11

■ Fixed broadband penetration by country 12

■ Submarine cable overview 15

New submarine cables deployments 16

■ Looking to the future: 5G 22

Papua New Guinea 23

■ PNG: Telecoms market overview 23

Fixed network operators 29

© Copyright Paul Budde Communication Pty Ltd, 2019

Fixed broadband infrastructure 30

Fixed broadband statistics 32

■ Fiji: Telecoms market overview 34

Fixed network operators 43

Fixed broadband infrastructure 49

Fixed broadband statistics 53

Solomon Islands BuddeComm Sample 55

■ The Solomon Islands: Telecoms market overview 55

Fixed network operators 61

Fixed broadband infrastructure 62

Fixed broadband statistics 63

■ Vanuatu: Telecoms market overview 64

© Copyright Paul Budde Communication Pty Ltd, 2019

Fixed network operators 72

Fixed broadband infrastructure 73

Fixed broadband statistics 74

■ French Polynesia – Telecoms market overview 75

4G LTE BuddeComm Sample 77

Fixed network operators 79

Fixed broadband infrastructure 80

Fixed broadband statistics 83

■ New Caledonia: Telecoms market overview 84

Mobile operators and infrastructure 85

© Copyright Paul Budde Communication Pty Ltd, 2019

Fixed network operators 87

Fixed broadband infrastructure 88

Fixed broadband statistics 89

■ Samoa: Telecoms market overview 90

Fixed network operators 94

Fixed broadband infrastructure 95

© Copyright Paul Budde Communication Pty Ltd, 2019

Table 2 – South Pacific - mobile penetration by largest countries – 2014 - 2019 7

Table 7 – South Pacific – submarine cables – largest countries – 2019 18

Table 8 – Satellites operating in the Pacific region 21

Table 10 – Digicel PNG mobile subscribers – 2014 – 2018 26

Table 16 – Vodafone Fiji Limited revenue – 2015 – 2018 36

Table 17 – Vodafone Fiji Limited mobile subscribers – 2009 – 2018 37

Table 18 – Fiji – percentage of mobile connections by technology – 2018; 2025 39

Table 22 – Telecom Fiji – key financials – 2015 - 2018 47