PITA Newsletter
Information about PITA and its Activities
Welcome to PITA
PITA is a non-profit organisation registered in Suva, Fiji. It was formed in January 18, 1997 at the Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC) conference in Honolulu, Hawaii, to represent the interest of the small island nations in the Pacific region in the telecommunications field. Since its inception, PITA's membership has doubled. Currently it has 59 members including 19 Pacific Island countries. Members are telecommunications entities in Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia, Australia and New Zealand. Associate members are suppliers of telecommunications equipment or services, regional and international organisations. Regulatory bodies from the Pacific make up the other member category.
PITA has a MOU with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC) and works closely with the Asia Pacific Telecommunity (APT). It's currently working with the Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) for similar MOU arrangements. PITA's objectives are to improve, promote, enhance, facilitate and provide telecommunications services within Pacific member and associate member countries.
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PITA's two main member meetings include a one-day meeting in Honolulu, Hawai'i, prior to the annual PTC meet, and its annual general meeting that is held before the end of its financial year (end of June). These meetings are attended by senior executives and experts from member organisations and invited speakers and observers from other international organisations and agencies. The meeting covers discussions and deliberations of common interest, needs, issues and developments. It also provides opportunities for members to hear expert presentations from invited speakers and conduct bilateral negotiations.
Other events arise from members' resolutions during these meetings. On past occasions, joint workshops have been conducted with ITU, APT, CTO and East-West Center to address requirements of PITA members. This trend will continue to facilitate the tapping of expert resources and nurturing of a co-operative culture within the region and member organisations. At its recent meeting in Honolulu, attendance was made up of 80 senior executives.
At this year's 24th PTC, a session titled 'Pacific Sessions' will allow small island telecommunications entities to discuss issues affecting them and future directions. Pacific issues likely to be discussed include the FCC Benchmark, Pacific Bypass, High Costs to rural/islands penetration and access, Internet & PSTN Bypass, Regulation and Legislations and anticipation of ICT. These issues are likely to be presented through case studies by the island country telcos.
And PITA including Pacific nations have endorsed Geffry Salmon, French Polynesia's Office des Postes et Telecommunications director general, to represent the Pacific island countries on the PTC board of trustees.
PITA's registered office is located on the 8th Floor, Dominion House, Suva, Fiji.
For more information, contact:
Manager PITA, Tel (679) 311 638, Fax (679) 308 750, E-mail: pita@is.com.fj, Website:
http://www.pita.org.fj
PITA 2002 Calendar & Activities Oulook
January12-13 PITA Members meeting, Honolulu, Hawaii
13-17 PTC 2002 25th Annual Conference, Honolulu, Hawaii
TBC TAS Group Meeting (ITU), Bangkok, Thailand
FebruaryTBC CTO Workshop, Madang, Papua New Guinea
April
12-14 PITA AGM, Suva, Fiji
12-14 Telecom Trade Exhibition, during PITA AGM, Suva, Fiji
More Activities & Events will be announced as soon as a collaborative timetable is developed after considering activities related agencies ITU, APT, CTO, PIFS
Workshops, meetings or seminars may be organised to facilitate proposed work plan considerations for PITA in 2002 as outlined below:
1. Telecommunication Costing and Tariff2. Training Facilitation for Online training
3. ITU Regulation project (joint ITU/UNDP/PIFS/PITA)
4. E-commerce/IP based Networks/ICT issues
5. ICT issues
6. Cellular issues (GSM vs CDMA)
7. Education: case studies
8. ADSL
9. From the Internet Workshop in Brisbane
Say Goodbye to Save Vocea
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"Save was the most effective manager that PITA has had to date and certainly contributed significantly to PITA's success.
"The executive committee is very sorry to see Save go, but we wish him all the best for the future in his new endeavours in Brisbane, Australia," Davies said.
Vocea expressed his appreciation of the work experience and friendships gained during his term with PITA.
Fred Christopher, Vocea's replacement, comes highly recommended. He was chosen from a field of 29 applicants.
Davies said he was pleased with the large number of applicants, several of which came from the Pacific region outside Fiji.
"We welcome Fred into PITA. Fred has already been involved in numerous conference calls and work in preparing for the next PITA conference on January 12 in Hawai'i."
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Of Christopher's appointment, Davies said he was impressed with his dedication in the short period that he has been in office. Davies has asked that all PITA members rally behind the new PITA manager.
...And Welcome in Fred Christopher
Fred Christopher is the new PITA manager, replacing Savenaca Vocea. Christopher has been in the telecommunications business for 15 years. He was regional sales manager for Telecommunications Fiji Limited before moving to the Federated States of Micronesia to join its telecommunications company, on a one-year contract as marketing manager.
"It has given me a good change of environment switching from one level of business to another," Christopher said.
"FSM is a small company - what they earn in one year is about one third of Telecom Fiji's earnings. So you can imagine the change from a small entity to a large one."
Christopher believes the advent of information technology to be a big issue in the Pacific.Pacific Island telcos, he notes, should be mindful of the potential of technology. As much as it drives growth opportunities for businesses, it could also be a liability.
"It could be a threat in the sense that there could be a lot of by-pass mechanisms such as bodies outside the Pacific region that are opening centres where you can call through the Internet cheaply from country to country."
Christopher views telephony access a problem. From a government's perspective, essential services such as health and education can be carried over through communication links. There is subsequent pressure on telcos to implement plans to provide access to as many citizens as possible.
Internet, he says, is a merging platform for most telecommunications services - telephones and tele-health or tele-medicine.
Christopher sees the telecommunications industry a key component in the development of Pacific island countries.
