Changes in technology and economics, backed by Fiji’s Universal Service Fund, have created an opportunity to deliver telecommunications services to communities that have historically been difficult and costly to connect.
Telecommunications Authority of Fiji chairman David Eyre said the Universal Service framework had provided the regulatory mandate, while funding and technological developments had now made practical delivery possible.
“The Universal Service provisions gave us the mandate. The Universal Service Fund provided the mechanism. Changes in technology and economics created the opportunity,” Eyre said at the National Universal Service Launch.
“Industry provided the delivery capability. And communities provided the cooperation necessary to make it work.”
Eyre said the development represented an important turning point for efforts to close connectivity gaps across Fiji, particularly in rural, maritime, highland and interior communities.
He said Fiji’s geography had historically made conventional telecommunications infrastructure commercially difficult to deploy in some locations.
Distance, difficult terrain, maritime isolation, small populations and the costs associated with constructing, powering and maintaining infrastructure meant normal market conditions did not always support investment.
“The purpose of Universal Service is to address that gap in a structured and accountable way, based on a simple principle: where a person lives should not unnecessarily determine whether they have reasonable access to telecommunications services,” Eyre said.
TAF had previously explored conventional telecommunications towers for underserved communities, but Eyre said the economics of building and maintaining the infrastructure across numerous small and remote locations could not be made viable.
Satellite technology was another option, but historically high equipment and recurring service costs had made widespread deployment difficult to sustain.
Eyre said those economics had now changed.
More accessible satellite connectivity provided a practical backhaul solution for locations where conventional infrastructure remained difficult to justify, while improved commercial arrangements had significantly reduced the recurring cost barriers previously associated with the model.
“What we are recognising today is therefore not the sudden discovery of Universal Service,” he said.
“It is the point at which policy, technology, funding and economics have aligned sufficiently to turn a long-standing statutory objective into practical delivery.”
Eyre said combining these developments with Universal Service funding and competitive delivery through telecommunications providers meant Fiji finally had a model capable of being implemented at scale.
He said the initiative also demonstrated the need for regulators to evolve alongside technological and market changes.
“Regulation cannot remain static while technology and markets change,” Eyre said.
He said a modern regulator must understand law, technology, markets and economics and identify where normal commercial investment would not deliver the public outcomes required.
