E-commerce
Speeding on Guam
High-Speed Internet Access Now A Way Of Life.
As the sophistication of long-distance communications continues to make our world grow smaller, Guam is in the unique position of being America’s communication gateway to Asia. Currently, this small American outpost in the western Pacific boasts at least three different international companies that use Guam as their grounding point for undersea telephonic cables that connect the world to Asia, Australia, Japan and elsewhere.
But what has this done for the local Internet business here? The answer is plenty. Guam enjoys Internet Service Provider (ISP) service that is unparalleled with many industrialized regions including areas of the mainland United States and Europe.
So how has such a small island in the vast waters of the Pacific Ocean taken such a major role in Internet development? The answer according to ISP companies homebred in Guam is simple: foresight and demand. After a Guam Superior Court ruled earlier this year that the government-owned telephone company should not be in the business of providing Internet service, even after spending millions of dollars establishing unique services, a number of private businesses jumped in, successfully launching ISP services for their customers in a number of unique business moves.
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For instance, IT&E, one of the island’s oldest privately owned and operated long distance providers, began offering Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) that use existing twisted copper wire phone lines to access the Internet at high speeds.
At the same time Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), which is also a high-speed, all-digital communications network, is also being offered. Normally the factory-installed modem needed to gain access to the Internet comes with a 56 kilo-bytes-per second download, but with ISDN speeds of 128 kbs can be realized.
One would think that services that link Guam users to the world at break-neck speeds would be very expensive, but when it comes to being connected on Guam, ISP companies such as IT&E, Kuentos Communications and Verizon are attracting customers by offering “bundled” packages.
“We are constantly looking to find ways to help people become connected, not only with PCS world-wide communication, but with low telephone rates,” says IT&E’s corporate communications director Jackie Chandler.
Verizon (formerly GTE Communications) at this point does not offer either DSL or ISDN services. (In contrast, Verizon Hawaii is making a huge marketing push for its DSL service for residential and business customers.) On Guam, Verizon provides regular 56kbs connections and prides itself in offering a complete customer service department committed to working with its client base. Speed is what most users of the Internet want, but great customer service in an age of automation has its value.
Another major provider of ISP services, Kuentos Communications, is beginning to deliver high-speed services through the cable television line that will be expanding to more areas of Guam in the upcoming months. Marianas Cable Vision (MCV), the island’s only cable television provider, now stands in a unique position to move into the high-speed Internet service.
Officials from both Verizon and IT&E agree that business through the Internet is helping Guam’s economy. With the expansion and increasing ease of use of the Internet, many Guam-based businesses are selling cultural goods such as “Made on Guam” cookies, chocolate, apparel and other services that are gaining worldwide attention on-line.
Photo: Floyd K. Takeuchi
