Fiji Calling

By year's end, conglomerate Amalgamated Telecom Holdings (ATH) hopes to have a F$50 million (US$29 million) technology park targeting international investors operating a stone's throw from the spot where the ultra high-bandwidth Southern Cross Cable comes ashore, on its way from Australia and New Zealand to the United States.

ATH Technology Park Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ATH, will run the project at a 16-hectare site at Rifle Range, Vatuwaqa, just outside the capital Suva.

ATH Chief Executive Officer Lionel Yee says the park will make it easier and faster for outsourcing businesses to set up, without the high capital cost of building new premises in a country where labor is cheap and people speak relatively good English.

Only three companies in Fiji are currently involved in data processing or call center work and only one - Fonexia - is contracted as an international call center.

A sketch of the layout of Fiji’s new F$50million technology park. Photo: Courtesy ATH

That should change when the park opens. Yee believes Fiji is well positioned to take on ICT (Information and Communications Technologies) powerhouses such as India, China, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Yee says the marketing efforts of his company-along with FINTEL, Telecom Fiji (Fiji's only domestic service provider) and the Fiji Trades and Investment Bureau-are encouraging.

Together they have been selling Fiji as a unique location for outsourcing businesses because this is where the new day begins -apart, of course, from that giant cable.

"Fiji is positioned in a time zone that can be attractive to businesses," says Yee. "For example, being two hours ahead of Australia could mean that work is completed in Fiji before business opens in Australia."

With the master plan and civil engineering designs nearing completion, ATH is hopeful the Suva City Council will allow its application to rezone the site into a "studio city" so tenants can also benefit from Fiji's audio visual tax incentives.

The company is also negotiating an ICT industry-specific incentive scheme with the government, along the lines of tax-free zones for garment factories, so it can attract customers away from other outsourcing countries.

ATH estimates at least 6,000 people will get jobs at the technology park when it is fully complete. The park's electricity, telecommunications and water infrastructure will be totally independent, allowing business to continue smoothly in the event of cuts or breakdowns.

The site is adjacent to the 18-hole Fiji Golf Club and will include landscaped gardens, lakes, conference and recreation facilities.

There will be some 20 two-storey buildings each with 2,000 square meters of floor space where business can arrive today, unpack, plug in and be connected in short order to the world.