Special Telecom Section
American Samoa
Tongans Offer Lower Rates
A U.S.-registered telecommunications firm owned by a member of the Tongan Royal Family, hopes to add Blue Sky Communications (www.blueskycommunications.com) to the number of regional carriers that have joined its network providing cheaper long distance rates.
Shoreline Communications Ltd., whose two directors are Tongan Prince Tupoutoa and business executive Joseph Ramanlal, owns TonFon, home-based in Nukualofa, Tonga.
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Shoreline Communications Ltd. is part of an international conglomerate called Shoreline Group of Companies and Prince Tupoutoa is the chairman. Four TonFon officials led by the company’s chief executive officer, Soane Ramanlal, were in Pago Pago in November to meet with Blue Sky officials hoping that the local telecommunication firm would join its network of carriers.
After its success in Tonga, Ramanlal said their company now wants to expand to the entire Pacific with American Samoa first on the list. He says that by joining their network, Blue Sky customers will enjoy reduced long distance rates.
For example, said Ramanlal, if the current phone rate to call off-island is US$1 a minute, their network, they say, can offer Blue Sky customers 25 cents a minute.
“TonFon is interested in establishing a regional infrastructure related to long distance telephone services,” Blue Sky’s Lewis Wolman says. “They made their presentation to us, and now we are considering ways in which we might benefit from joining with them. We do not expect any immediate action,” Wolman adds, “but hope that we will be able to work together to lower the cost of long distance service between Tonga and American Samoa.”
According to the company’s Web site (www.tonton.to) the sale of TonFon international calling cards in New Zealand, Australia and the United States has contributed to the substantial growth of the company in the past year.
