PUBLISHER: BuddeComm | PRODUCT CODE: 1040138
PUBLISHER: BuddeComm | PRODUCT CODE: 1040138
Government of Samoa continues investments in digital infrastcructure
The lack of sufficient international connectivity remains a key hindrance to the improvement of telecom services in island nations like Samoa. However, the development of digital infrastructure such as the Tui-Samoa submarine cable, which was ready for service in mid-2020, as well as the Samoa National Broadband Highway are helping to increase internet speeds and reduce broadband prices in the country.
The Asian Development Bank estimated that Samoa had a bandwidth demand of 420Mb/s in 2015, but projected that this would rise to bandwidth demand of 6Gb/s in 2022 and 30Gb/s by 2028. To that end, the government of Samoa is continuing its investments to bring high-speed telecoms services to the country.
The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology was allocated $8.8 million in the 2021/2022 Budget. This includes provision for projects including the Samoa National Broadband Highway co-location as well as the government's investment in the Samoa Connectivity Project which involves the connection, via submarine cable, of Samoa to the Southern Cross Cable Network in Fiji.