TELECOM (Fiji) Ltd received an accolade in the Infrastructure Initiative of the Year – Fiji category at the Asian Telecom Awards 2026 for the delivery of the Savusavu–Labasa Fibre Project, a major terrestrial fibre deployment in Fiji’s Northern Division.
The award-winning initiative has enabled unprecedented connectivity to Fiji’s second biggest island, opening up businesses, schools and public service.
“Service performance changed immediately after commissioning. Interconnection bandwidth in the Northern Division increased to one hundred gigabits per second, whilst latency levels and service interruptions declined.
“Recorded network traffic rose from 7.0 gigabits per second to 12.5 gigabits per second,” Telecom Fiji said in a statement.
Construction of the project finished ahead of schedule and remained within the approved budget of $10m, it added.
“Subscriber behaviour shifted within six months, and broadband subscriptions doubled across the region during this period.
“Businesses increased fibre service adoption by 88 per cent whilst connectivity amongst schools and statutory bodies grew by 77 per cent. Operational outcomes were reported across multiple public institutions.
“Healthcare facilities experienced faster access to clinical and administrative systems.
“Government agencies improved inter-department data exchange, particularly during periods of high demand. Financial institutions recorded gains in transaction processing speed and service reliability, whilst schools reported quicker access to education management systems and digital learning tools.”
Telecom Fiji’s Savusavu–Labasa Fibre Project replaced aged legacy infrastructure with a state-of-the-art network built with underground protection and redundant routing to address environmental exposure.
“Optical technology was selected for capacity scalability rather than fixed throughput. The system operated initially at ten gigabits per second and expanded to 100 gigabits per second, with a defined upgrade path to 400 gigabits per second.
“This capability aligned with national network planning and supported preparations for fifth-generation mobile services in the Northern Division.”
