Telecommunications
Tongan NGO ready to help
Tonga IT businessman, Sam Taufa hopes to set up an NGO Internet society for Tonga. He is currently working with a number of groups to get the association running to “attack” some of the Internet-related issues relevant to Tonga and Tonga-based customers.
Taufa, senior administrator of Tonga’s Antis Consulting, said the Internet society would tackle social and technical issues pertaining to the governance of Internet provision on the island, something he says, the Tongan government has yet to fully comprehend.
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“A local society can assist government through recommendations on legislation appropriate for the local context,” Taufa said.
“There are no telephony satellite nor technology experts in government to assist in its legislation and governance in this area.
“Likewise, the local society can provide dissenting views on international consultants.”
For instance, says Taufa, it would benefit government to seek consultation with an independent group on the employment of international aid, in reference to the likes of e-government projects.
He said the idea of government going on-line, as much as it is ideal, is not good planning. With “less than one percent of the (Tonga) population” having access to Internet, he sees the e-government scheme impractical as “there is very little social value to this proposition.” He believes what would serve the populace better are the traditional media: radio, telephony, television and print mediums.
Antis Consulting (www.afe.to), a fairly new firm based in Tonga, is a private company with its footing in Internet services with further licensing sought from government to offer additional services. Antis’ customer drill has been an offering of quicker online access and affordable and better Internet services through afe.com and Antis.
Initial talks to get Tonga switched on to the World Wide Web happened in 1996 with the collaboration of United Kingdom’s telecommunications company Cable & Wireless and the Tonga government. Telecom Tonga and Cable & Wireless were then involved in the provision of Internet services to the country.
Meanwhile, the society, explains Taufa, could also take on an advisory role for government on the issue of interconnections (Internet) and domain name(s)— dot to Taufa questions the gains of private ownership of domain names. And he says the society, once its set up, could assist in outlining for the government and ICANN a proposal for domain governance.
“As you know, the dot to domain name is managed by a private company owned by the Crown Prince.
“That is a massive amount of money that goes to private institutions that could possibly be better managed for the benefit of the local people if it were either managed by government or by an NGO with more public accountability.
“One goal of the group is to assist government by drafting proposals for an alternate approach with greater accountability.”
