Telecom
Why Fiji's Doing Away With Those Monopolies
Fiji telecommunications businesses are to lose their government-granted monopolies.
Fiji telecommunications businesses are to lose their government-granted monopolies. The country's 2001 budget refers to plans to licence competitors to offer services as alternatives to the monopoly international and domestic telephone services, the country's only television station, which operates as a public company listed on the local stock exchange, and to permit alternative Internet service providers.
Apart for a cell phone service run by the British Vodafone organisation in collaboration with Amalgamated Telecom Holdings (ATH), 51 percent owner of the business, other telecommunications business are directly or indirectly controlled by ATH. This is controlled in turn by the Fiji National Provident Fund.
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Telecom Fiji, previously wholly government-owned and responsible for domestic telephone services, and Fiji International Telecommuni-cations Ltd (FINTEL), the international service monopoly, were merged into ATH in 1998. Now the government is moving to set up a new regulatory agency, the Telecommunications Authority of the Fiji Islands, by mid 2001.
Policy documents comment that while Fiji's telecommunications infrastructure is "reasonably modern" there is "apparent stagnation" in the sector. This is to a greater degree due to the existence of monopolies and their tendency to wield the dominance they have acquired through the license they hold."
Telecom Fiji, FINTEL and ATH mergers had cut competition to a minimum and brought about services bundling and monopolist operations.
"It is now realised that the impact digitisation would have on the market today was not anticipated when the exclusive licenses were granted to Telecom Fiji and FINTEL in 1990," one paper says.
This was why the government wanted competition.
The government's hopes are for increased teledensity, competition and deregulation and liberalisation to attract investment into the industry and bring in "new business and more players."
Support for the modernisation of telecommunications infrastructure will be given to assist broadband connectivity to the global info-communications domain and allow a wider choice of services, the documents say.
"More new value added services will surface from infrastructure modernisation. Amongst these are shopping on the internet, video-on-demand, electronic commerce, virtual library services, distance education and tele-health."
Telecom Fiji and FINTEL's existing licences contain no specifications for tariff methodology, quality of service targets, teledensity or coverage targets to be reached or for minimum rural telecommunication service targets. There is no system for monitoring, enforcing and reviewing services and tariffs for them and no specific rules for settling disputes between customers and operators and between operators.
Vodafone's mobile phone service began six ago and now has 38,000 users, considered to be a "commendable" achievement in a country with only 800,000 people, To conform with International Telecommunications Union (ITU) rules the government has reserved the 1885-2025 MHz and 2110-2200 MHz for third generation mobile phone use. All services working in these bands now have been told to leave them by 2003 at the latest. The 1710-1880 MHz and 2520-2670 MHz bands have been cleared also for third generation use from 2010. Complaints about slow speed and high cost of the existing Fiji Telecom Internet service provider has led to a call for the provision for other access services.
The new telecommunications regulatory authority's role will be to: n undertake rule-making and enforce; licensing, and management of state resources.
In regulate provision of service, interconnection, rural telecommunications development, prices and tariffs and frequency allocation and assignment.
Set standards for quality of service, networks and facilities, type approved equipment and numbering schemes.
The policy papers stress that the government will not allow rural telecommunications services to be neglected in favour of the more lucrative urban and international services. The government and private sector must come up with cost effective solutions to "bridge the gap" between urban, rural and remote (mainly outer island) areas.
