E-commerce
American Samoa Enters New Age
A New Video-Conferencing System Links The Territory To The World.
American Samoa in July launched a satellite-based communications system that is expected to benefit education and health services agencies. The initiative is in conjunction with the University of Hawaii, and has substantial U.S. federal funding. The result: the American Samoa Government-Distance Education, Learning and Telehealth Application (DELTA) through video teleconferencing.
Lt. Governor Togiola Tulafono and the local Departments of Commerce, Education, Public Safety, Treasury, Health and the Territorial Emergency Management Coordinating Office chair the territorial government’s DELTA Consortium.
The consortium also includes semi-autonomous government agencies: American Samoa Hospital Authority (that operates LBJ Medical Center), the American Samoa TeleCommunications Authority, the American Samoa Power Authority and the American Samoa Community College.
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“Much of the progress in telecommunication in American Samoa for the last five years is due to policy changes and the establishment of the ASG-DELTA Consortium,” says Commerce Director Aliimau H. Scanlan.
Togiola says establishing the consortium is the cooperative efforts of everyone, not just one agency. It started out with a small federal grant, and through aggressive efforts more funding was secured. One of the first grants for the project was for $369,800 for an earth station satellite, a video teleconferencing system for the American Samoa Community College and teleconferencing systems for the LBJ Medical Center. The biggest grant was awarded to the Dept. of Education through the e-Rate network and network technology worth over $8 million awarded in the past three years from the Schools and Libraries Division of the Universal Services Administrative Company.
“The cooperative effort has, so far, resulted in telemedicine and video-conferencing being available to the hospital, the Department of Education and other agencies,” says Togiola. “American Samoa is ahead of other islands of the Pacific in this field.”
The Dept. of Education has 11 video teleconferencing systems for interactive distance learning courses. The LBJ Tropical Medical Center and Department of Health interconnect with clinical specialists throughout the Pacific and the world to improve diagnosis and treatment of patients. Government agencies use the network for training programs, business meetings, and other purposes. And the Samoa-American Samoa link connects the two sites with the National University and National Hospital of Samoa.
“Now that we are established, the next step is e-commerce and we are prepared,” says Togiola.
“To be competitive requires that we do things cheaper, faster, and better,” says government environmental planner Jim Regan-Vienop. “American Samoa has the best policy and technical infrastructure in the Pacific Islands region today. And we are working on projects that will hopefully ensure our continued success.”
The biggest benefactor of modern technology is the hospital. LBJ Medical Center CEO Taufetee John Faumuina says, “technology has helped reduce our cost tremendously” through tele-medicine which allows consulting with off-island doctors without leaving the island. Taufetee says this service is especially useful in the medical referral program in which off-island doctors can make diagnoses and recommendations before a decision is made on whether the patient should be sent off-island for a costly referral.
Another benefactor of the DELTA is the Dept. of Education. According to the latest statistics, there are 12 video teleconferencing sites within DOE (including elementary and secondary schools), two sites at the power authority, two at the community college, and two each at LBJ and the Department of Public Works. Now the government is working toward providing this service to private schools. The government is also working on an e-Commerce Development Center that will focus on a technology-training site, a data entry facility, software development for applications, and a business incubation facility.
American Samoa accomplished its DELTA Consortium with the help of Dr. Norman Okamura, the University of Hawaii PEACESAT telecommunications specialist who has provided outstanding support for the territory. According to Okamura, American Samoa is the most connected island in the Pacific to health care and education than any other island in the region “and all this through a lot of interagency cooperation”.
As part of the DELTA Consortium, the government launched on July 20th its Pan-Pacific Education and Communication Experiments by Satellite or “PEACESAT”, a satellite communications network that consists of 53 earth stations in 22 Pacific countries.
It is headquartered at the University of Hawaii. Christina Higa, the PEACESAT director, says American Samoa joins Guam and Honolulu in keeping the Pacific region connected. The PEACESAT satellite will act as a hub for the region, she says. “The ASG-DELTA Consortium has been a highlight for us in the region,” she adds, “and we use DELTA constantly as a successful example of what partnership and collaboration can achieve.”
Photo: Fili Sagapolutele
