If there’s a break in the Hawaiki Cable, American Samoa will be without internet service as there’s no back up service.
The Acting CEO of the American Samoa Telecommunications Authority Chuck Leota said they have discontinued using 03B Networks as a back up because it costs too much to repair the equipment.
He said since the beginning of 2021, ASTCA has been exploring options for a redundancy service, including the Samoa link of the American Samoa Hawaiki Cable and also satellite service.
Leota was testifying on ASTCA’s Fiscal Year “2021 budget.
Rep Larry Sanitoa advised that ASTCA secure a back up service because if something happens to the Hawaiki Cable, services such as banking, health care, business and education will be disrupted.
Sanitoa noted that ASTCA’s budget for the new fiscal year doesn’t show any revenues from the Hawaiki Cable. He asked if there have been any sales of the Hawaiki Cable bandwidth.
Leota said there’s no news to report on this since last year and the only usage of the 200 gigabytes from Hawaiki is by the local government and customers. like previous CEOs of ASTCA, he said they’re negotiating with neighboring islands but due to non disclosure requirements he could not provide details.
Sanitoa pointed out that the lifespan of the Hawaiki Cable was 25 years and its already been five years since the cable was launched. He said it behooves the ASTCA management to earn money from the cable and reminded that funding from the Retirement Fund financed the cable.
Senators Faiivae Alex Godinet and Malaepule Moliga observed that ASTCA employees were among the most lowly paid in ASG. They were happy to see that salary increases are included in the new year budget for ASTCA employees.
Asked if a new CE0 for ASTCA has been found, Leota said the board was still in the process of selecting one.
Concerning the sale of Hawaiki Cable Submarine Company he said they were told in a conference call with the new owners that there will be no changes in ASTCA’s relationship with Hawaiki under the new ownership. In addition Mr Remi Galasso remains as the CEO of Hawaiki. The cable company was bought by BW Group which is headquartered in Singapore,
