Now, in 2010, we’ve spent the better part of a decade helping people get online, getting people in front of computers and teaching them to make the most of the learning and social opportunities that the Internet provides.

The recent release of Ookla’s Household Download Index allows us to measure how far we, as a nation, have come.

Uptake on Internet is still limited to a tiny minority. The pool of Internet users has risen substantially in real numbers, but as a percentage of population, the numbers are still so small that, in a recent national telecoms survey, the researchers declined even to ask about Internet. The data set was too small to be relevant.

Prices today have effectively risen, megabit for megabit, relative to developed markets. Oh, they’ve dropped from the stratospheric levels they used to inhabit (US $1000/month for 128 Kbps and a 100 MB download limit). But you still pay over US $500/month for a single megabit which, occasionally, actually delivers a megabit of bandwidth. When it works.

Most depressing of all, the total amount of bandwidth available for the entire country is only slightly more than the average bandwidth capacity of a single household in Seoul, Korea.

Let me say that again: There are people in Seoul – and countless other cities in the world – who have more bandwidth at their personal disposal than a quarter of a million people here in the Pacific.

Pent-up demand for Internet is easily on the same scale as we’ve witnessed for mobile telephony services these last two years. Informal markers (like the average number of facebook friends among ni-Vanuatu Internet users) show that people love the potential of the Internet and will go to lengths to access it.

But nobody is willing to actually invest in it.

Even Digicel Vanuatu, who over a year ago imported a new CTO with extensive wireless Internet experience, have yet to provide an offering viable for day-to-day use even for the average expat customer.

Frankly, I find it depressing that, in spite of years of advocacy, lobbying and awareness-raising, the movers and shakers here in Vanuatu don’t appear to have learned a thing about the importance of either communications or technology.

April 1, 2010 - Port Vila

In a move that stunned the telecommunications industry, Digicel Pacific and Telecom Vanuatu Ltd. have announced a merger, simultaneously unveiling a massive Internet project that could revolutionise communications across the entire Pacific ‘Ring of Fire.’

Jacky Audebeau, CTO of the new joint venture, to be named TeleDigiVanuaCel Ltd., announced the plan at a press conference at the Forari Mine site this morning.

“We’re confident that this joint venture will provide us with the resources necessary to utterly change the way people communicate throughout the Pacific region,” he said.

The plan uses the strong magnetic resonance found in magma chambers buried deep under the Earth’s surface. By inserting large antennas deep underground, the project aims to create signals by generating massive radio waves and transmitting them through these subterranean chambers at
nearly light speed.

Asked whether early work on this technology had anything to do with the recent increase in activity in all of Vanuatu’s volcanoes, Audebeau looked sheepish and muttered only that sometimes to have to break a few omelettes to lay an egg.

The joint venture came about under unusual circumstances, said Audebeau. Apparently, he ran into new Digicel Pacific owner Denis O’Brien at Port Vila’s Anchor Inn last weekend, and a dispute arose over the relative merits of French wine and Irish Whiskey. After 3 hours of bitter dispute and extensive sampling, the two realised they should no longer fight.

“I couldn’t figure out which one of him to hit,” said Audebeau. “So I thought, ‘what the hey? If you can’t beat them, join them.’ Now somebody get me a glass of water and some panadol. I feel like I have fur on my brain.”

A spin-off company named Forari Online Operations Ltd (FOOL) will handle the funding and development of the Ameliorated Projection of Radio Into Lava (APRIL) technology.

In times of crisis, communication and coordination enable us to survive and to recover quickly.

When an earthquake occured between Samoa and Tonga early in the morning of September 29th, it created a tsunami that struck the inhabitants on the eastern and southeastern parts of the island within minutes. Sirens sounded and church bells rang all over side of the island, sending people fleeing to higher ground.

The latest reports from Samoa indicate that in addition to at least 149 dead, 640 families comprising roughly 3200 people have lost their homes and possessions. Most have yet to to return to their villages, and are without proper access to power, water and other basic amenities.

Food, water, clothing and shelter are all critical elements of the relief effort.

Equally important is the ability to communicate.

As I write this, many Port Vila residents are still feeling shaken following another tsunami warning caused by an 8.0 magnitude earthquake Thursday morning at the far northern tip of the Vanuatu archipelago. Happily, it was a dud. Boaters in Port Vila harbour reported a minor swell, nothing more. Two more tremblors measuring above 7.0 were felt that day, further raising anxieties.

Within 15 minutes of the tremor, the first official warning was issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. A few minutes after that, warnings began to be issued via email, web and broadcast media. Shortly before the wave was due to arrive, downtown Port Vila was a ghost town. Shops, schools and businesses were closed in Santo as well.

It was encouraging to see the speed with which the information was disseminated, and how care was taken to ensure that the news was accurate and timely.

Following the cancellation of the alert, there was much discussion about how things could have been done better. Among the problems mentioned were traffic jams caused by parents attempting to collect their children from schools, closed although most were situated on safe high ground and never in danger.

Others suggested that TVL and Digicel should collaborate to send broadcast SMS messages to their client base. While a commendable idea, we cannot rely entirely on such media. SMS operates on a best-effort basis, but voice traffic always takes precedence. So if everyone starts phoning family and loved ones – as happened this morning – their calls will take precedence. The busier the network, the slower the rate at which SMS messages can be sent.

Also, it’s impossible to send messages to people based on their location. From the perspective of the equipment used to send these messages, you’re either on the network or you’re not. Exactly where you are is impossible to determine.

While useful, SMS can only be a part of the solution. Broadcast media and good old-fashioned warning sirens are still the most direct and effective way to get the message out.

Tellingly, none of the the warnings that I saw originated from the government unit designated to deal with these situations. While the Geohazards unit and the Meteo office were quick to disseminate details via radio, TV, web and email, the National Disaster Management Office was nowhere to be seen.

Government resources are limited, it’s true. While every effort is made to provide accurate, detailed and up-to-date information, resources are always stretched. Esline Araebiti, Geohazards Manager, described her efforts to keep tabs on recent volcanic activity on Gaua’s volcano. Dormant since 1982, it recently began to show signs of life, and has since been upgraded from level 0 (dormant) to 1 (increased activity, danger near crater only).

The first people to notice this renewed activity were the people of West Gaua. With neither mobile nor landline service available, they used a teleradio to contact provincial authorities in Sola on nearby Vanua Lava, where the message was relayed to the Geohazards Unit.

(It’s hoped that the Government’s Universal Access Policy Fund will improve communications capacity in this extremely vulnerable area.)

Luckily, portable sensing equipment was available, and members of the unit embarked immediately for Gaua. The equipment uses satellite technology to send monitoring data back to Vila and onward to the US Geological Survey’s international network.

Thursday’s earthquake was centred about 150 kilometres from Gaua. There is some concern that the disturbance might cause increased activity in the volcano. Much like a can of soda when it’s shaken, an earthquake can cause the explosive release of gases from magma chambers deep below the earth’s surface. Gaua’s lava chamber lies immediately below a lake, so there’s significant concern that if it’s breached it could cause a catastrophic explosion. Authorities are therefore watching carefully to see if the volcano’s status should be upgraded yet again.

The kind of sensing equipment deployed in Gaua is costly to purchase and maintain. NZAID and the Pacific Fund have been assisting the unit in establishing a permanent monitoring station on Ambrym to track activity on Marum and Benbow volcanoes. These stations use Digicel’s GPRS service to provide lower-cost communications. Results so far are quite positive, though there have been technical issues with Digicel’s tower located in nearby Ulei village.

Sylvain Todman, a consultant working with the Geohazards unit, stated that there is a critical need for additional equipment. Currently only two volcanoes are monitored on a full-time basis. There is an immediate need for six such stations, located on Tanna, Epi, Ambrym, Ambae and Gaua. Each station costs between $12-17,000, plus regular service and maintenance – not too expensive, considering the lives that might be saved.

The September 29 tsunami took between 5-8 minutes to reach the coast of Samoa, and only a few minutes more to strike Tonga and American Samoa. Thursday’s false alarm provides an object lesson on the importance of timely, accurate and systematic information sharing, both in acquisition and dissemination of geohazard data.

Communications is, after all what makes us human. And what keeps us safe and alive.

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” – Leo Tolstoy

On Wednesday this week at a quiet ceremony in Chantilly’s Resort, Minister Rialuth Serge Vohor presented six organisations with telecommunications operator licenses. His action marked the beginning of a new chapter in Vanuatu’s integration into the wider technological world.

The Minister’s speech touched on many aspects of the technical and social challenge ahead of us, but its illuminating principle was his lifelong conviction that Vanuatu should control its own destiny. Acknowledging and applauding the invaluable assistance provided by numerous donor and commercial partners from overseas, he nonetheless displayed great satisfaction at seeing local operations moving into the spotlight.

There was an air of quiet excitement in the room as, after patient months of waiting, representatives from the six groups, along with Digicel Vanuatu CEO Tanya Menzies, strode to the front of the room to accept the newly signed documents.

At the risk of sounding like a giddy shoolchild, I wonder if everyone realises just how fundamentally this moment is going to affect our generation and the next.

We’ve had Internet services in Vanuatu for some time now and TVL has consistently worked to improve it. When I arrived here in 2003, an unlimited dial-up account cost 25,000 vatu per month. Today, a dedicated broadband line with roughly 3 times the capacity is available at about 20% of the price.

In 2003, it was possible – in theory at least – to connect from any telephone line. But that did mean being near a telephone line, and contending with all the other voice traffic coming and going. In practice, using the Internet regularly for anything but the most basic purposes in the islands was a challenge, to say the least. Today, we have broadband service in Vila and Santo (and soon in Tanna). And even if you’re not near a phone line, you can use TVL’s WiMax or Digicel’s GPRS service.

The pattern we’re seeing in Internet closely echoes what we saw in the months before Digicel rolled out its mobile telephone service, with a few critical differences. Prices have dropped, coverage and capacity have improved. If anything, TVL’s been even more aggressive this time in improving its core infrastructure, expanding its coverage area and reducing prices. It has clearly become a much more agile organisation than it once was. Consumers nationwide can only benefit from the result.

This time around, it’s Digicel that runs the risk (albeit a slight one) of being the one caught on the hop. On the same day the six new licenses were awarded, Digicel also received an amended license – essentially giving it the right to compete in all segments of the telecoms market.

I spoke with CEO Tanya Menzies about what Digicel’s plans regarding Internet services. When asked about becoming a full-service ISP, She said they were in the process of developing their business plan and didn’t want to make any firm pronouncements at that moment. She did, however, draw my attention to a recent contract between Digicel and Huawei to provide roaming wireless broadband in 5 Caribbean nations.

It’s no accident that Digicel’s new CTO is a wireless Internet veteran with a long list of large-scale network roll-outs to his credit. “That’s why we brought him here,” said Menzies, smiling.

I suspect, though, that most people’s first contact with the Internet here will be through smaller local commercial and community-based operations. Telsat Pacific has ambitious plans to push Internet service as widely as they can using a mix of small satellite dishes and wireless technology. Yumi Konek, an NGO-driven project designed to provide access to email to Vanuatu’s remotest areas, is already providing services in Aneityum and the Banks islands. The Pentecost community of Pangi and Malekula’s Southwest Bay are next.

No matter how you slice it, Internet will remain relatively expensive for some years to come. In addition to that, taking full advantage of the Internet involves a good deal more capital – both intellectual and technical – than using a mobile phone. So, for the majority in Vanuatu, the face of technology will be the neighbourhood geek who keeps the equipment chugging along.

My guess is that the biggest winners among our current heavy hitters will be those who push the support role closer to the customer by offering wholesale services to ‘Mom and Pop’ businesses operating in neighbourhoods throughout Vanuatu.

Pent-up demand for learning, for a glimpse of the outside world, is far greater than many people realise. If people in a remote village in South Malekula will clear a mountain hillside just to speak with their families, what lengths won’t others go to in order to explore the world? More importantly, what would parents not give to allow their children to do so?

The expansion of Internet use is not likely to follow the rocket-like trajectory of mobile services, but it will hit quickly and run deep. Too deep for some, I fear. Having lived on the bleeding and the trailing edge of technology (sometimes both at once), I find the contrast between the two is enough to cause a kind of cognitive whiplash.

Heaven alone knows what will happen when it reaches the village.

Most people fear the obvious: pornography, graphic violence and other morally dubious fare. I think they’re missing the point. The really disruptive influences are the social ones.

What will happen to society when we chat more with people on other continents than the ones sitting right beside us?

What will happen to families when their members start to see what else they could belong to?

The societies where Internet runs deepest bear the least resemblance to the country we live in today.

The Vanuatu we know is about to change utterly. The only question now is: What do we want Vanuatu to become, and what are we willing to do – now, today – to achieve that?

With the recent passage of a new telecommunications Act (awkwardly titled the TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND RADIOCOMMUNICATION REGULATION ACT), Vanuatu has taken another important step in ensuring continued success in building openness and fairness into the business of communications.

Parts of the Act, currently awaiting the President’s signature, validate and give force of law to terms and conditions already included in the licenses issued to our two incumbent telcos. It also provides an overall framework for continued growth, expansion and innovation. Most importantly, it makes permanent the office of the Telecommunications Regulator.

(Before I go on, I should make it clear that the text of the Bill was under discussion until shortly before it was voted on. The version I was able to view was not the official text. That will only become available once the Clerk of Parliament receives the signed Act from the President. That said, I’m pretty confident that those parts of the Act discussed here are unchanged.)

Perhaps the most notable aspect of this new legislation is the delegation of the right to issue telecoms licenses to the Regulator. Until the Act takes effect, this power is retained by the Minister.

John Crook, the Interim Telecommunications Regulator, has made it clear that he wants to see the process of obtaining what’s termed a Telecommunications Operator License to be as simple and direct as possible. All that should be required to start a new Internet Service Provider is to demonstrate that you have the right to operate such a business in Vanuatu, that you have the means to do so and that you’re willing to play by the rules.

We’ll likely see some reasonable limits put on this process. Contractual obligations limit the mobile telephone market to Digicel and TVL for a more years, and it’s likely that any large-scale enterprise (someone wanting to build out another national communications network, for example) would require approval by the Council of Ministers.

But, for those local businesses who’ve been waiting patiently for their ISP licenses to be approved, these are glad tidings. Approval could conceivably come within days or weeks.

Rod Smith, owner of Telsat Pacific, is excited at the prospect. One of six applicants, he’s been champing at the bit for months now, waiting for his application to be approved. Telsat intends to provide Internet services throughout Vanuatu, using a mix of satellite and wireless technologies. As the long-time provider of satellite television services, Smith feels comfortable that he can reach most anywhere with his service.

Smith described an ambitous plan to provide residential, business and roaming Internet services. His business model includes a single-sign-on service. Pay once for your Internet, and you can log in anywhere Telsat service is offered at no additional charge. Entry-level packages will start at bandwidths similar to those currently offered by TVL.

Asked how long it would take for him to be ready once his license is approved, Smith half-quipped, “I’ll have everything turned on by afternoon the next day.”

Others are just as sanguine, planning to offer wireless and other services throughout the municipal areas. It’s not clear how much price movement we’ll see in the short term. Satellite Internet is inherently expensive. While we might see more affordable packages than are currently available, they will likely be fairly modest in terms of what you can do with them.

When I discussed their mobile Internet service with Crevan Murphy, CTO at Digicel Vanuatu, he denied any interest in using GPRS to provide traditional ISP-style services. That said, an amended license agreement is currently awaiting approval. Time will tell what it contains.

TVL did not respond to recent questions concerning their future plans, beyond noting the wholesale improvements they’ve been undertaking across their entire infrastructure. Earlier briefings on their plan to extend broadband DSL service further into Port Vila’s neighbourhoods and to Tanna and elsewhere indicate that they intend to compete just as aggressively in the ISP market as they have in mobile services.

Local scuttlebutt has it that they’re currently upgrading their telephone switching equipment to support Internet protocols, too. So we might be seeing new services announced sooner than later.

With all this growth and excitement in the air, it’s comforting to know that the process will be overseen by a seasoned and able Regulator. Interim Regulator John Crook presided over some of the more contentious moments during the lead-up to the opening of the mobile market, and it’s understood that he will stay on for at least another year.

Equally important, he can finally start building out a permanent staff. Regulating telecommunications is a difficult game – there’s no small amount of geekery involved, but it’s intermixed with business, social and political considerations as well.

The new Telecoms Act takes solid steps to ensure that the office doesn’t become another VCMB, de-politicising the Regulator’s role and putting measures in place to ensure its neutrality.

Donors have suggested that in order to keep apace with technological issues, it might be desirable to create a regional ‘pool’ of technical expertise, shared between Pacific Island nations. That’s all well and good, but Vanuatu needs to invest in its own people as well.

While a solid grasp of technology is critical to managing this important national resource, it’s not sufficient in and of itself. If we want to do this right, we’ll need more than a few experienced and savvy ni-Vanuatu in the Regulator’s office and in other critical areas when these new communications services begin to make their impact felt on Vanuatu society.

When this Act becomes law, we can expect to see the same kind of radical transformation in the Internet market as we witnessed a little over a year ago with mobile services.

For most people in Vanuatu, this will be their first encounter with the Internet, a resource whose impact, potentially, will be even greater than mobile telephone revolution we’ve just been through.

We’ve seen a lot of griping and moaning recently about – and by – our two telcos. The former is not really news in and of itself. The fact of the matter is that anyone relying on technology in Vanuatu will have ample cause to complain before very long. Human, logistical and environmental factors in Vanuatu conspire against even the best-intentioned, making high-tech businesses here a pale echo indeed of what one might see in Sydney or Auckland.

To see our two telcos descend to a juvenile level of petty and rather vindictive name-calling and insinuation, however, was surprising and not at all welcome.

On top of the all-too-familiar litany of complaints concerning mobile telephone costs and service levels, readers of the Daily Post this week witnessed a public dust-up of playground proportions between TVL and Digicel. If we’re to believe the two providers, a mobile user’s choice of providers is between an incompetent dinosaur and a dishonest fast dealer.

Neither depiction is accurate, useful or informative for people in Vanuatu. It leads one to wonder whether either of them really understands where they live. This undignified public display is an object lesson in how NOT to win friends and influence people in Vanuatu.

One thing is for certain: As far as the public is concerned, the post-liberalisation honeymoon is definitely over.

For Digicel especially, the bloom is decidedly off the rose. While people remain appreciative of the range and stability of their mobile service, complaints have become increasingly frequent – and strident – concerning what is widely viewed as a courteous but utterly ineffective customer service department.

Their first birthday celebration stands in rather stark contrast to the glitz and glamour of their kick-off a year ago. Their widely touted credit promotions didn’t go smoothly, with numerous people reporting that they never received the extra credit promised them. Others found that their ‘free after 3’ extra talk time wasn’t free after all. Efforts to redress this via Digicel’s customer care service were ineffective in numerous cases.

One particularly indignant person recounted how, when they phoned Customer Care and informed them that their 1000 vatu credit hadn’t been multiplied as promised, they were politely told to ‘try again.’ Not very useful for someone who had to pinch pennies to get that money together in the first place.

If reports on the VIGNET mailing list are any indication, it appears that the anniversary promotions experienced numerous failures of this ilk.

Despite several attempts to schedule a time to sit down and discuss this with Digicel management, they had yet to respond by the time this column went to press.

Digicel seems to be swamped by its own success. Scarcely more than half a year after their launch, they reported that they had over 70,000 active accounts to TVL’s 30,000. Anecdotal evidence has that number is closer to 100,000 now.

As TVL has learned from bitter experience, maintaining a communications network in the conditions which Vanuatu imposes on its inhabitants is decidedly non-trivial. In spite of years of experience in similar circumstances in the Caribbean and Central America, Digicel seems to be learning the lesson anew.

To what purpose, then, did the decidedly soot-stained pot decide to begin denouncing the kettle’s tarnished nature? Surely it must have occurred to someone that their time might be better spent actually cleaning up their own act than pointing out the other’s mess?

For Digicel to make accusations about TVL’s poor service history shows a distinct lack of sensitivity to the challenges faced by both TVL’s and Digicel’s technicians alike, operating as they do under difficult and sometimes extremely dangerous workplace conditions.

TVL was quick to denounce Digicel’s recent price changes, trumpeting especially what they characterised as a 35% increase in off-peak calls between Digicel customers. Their advertisements neglected to mention that back when they similarly flattened their fee structure to a 30 vatu across the board, people placing short calls benefited, but people placing longer calls ended up paying more.

There are, alas, no rules against juvenile behaviour. As unsavoury as their actions might have been of late, neither telco has broken any law or regulation. For alterations in pricing structures within a certain range, they are only required to notify the Regulator. Digicel did so in advance. TVL was not so prompt about things after a recent price change, sending notification only after the fact.

Common decency and respect are not codified in our telcos’ license agreements. It is nonetheless a welcome sight to see that the Interim Telecoms Regulator has been able to bring a little moral suasion to bear. Both his willingness to engage and the telcos’ willingness to adjust their behaviour without being beaten about the ears are positive signs.

The distrust between the two telcos is understandable and in many respects quite healthy. As much as we might decry the public tantrums we’ve seen of late, they’re vastly preferable to having the two telcos cosy up together and start cooperating more than they should.

Conspiracy theorists, pointing to the fact that both telcos changed their rates within days of one another, have suggested that if TVL and Digicel really were colluding on price, the best way to distract from any agreement would be a public tiff. In my opinion, that hypothesis stretches credulity. When I raised the possibility of collusion with an industry expert who had detailed knowledge of the Caribbean market, he scoffed and remarked acerbically that “if Digicel are cooperating with anyone, it would be a first.”

We can take a couple of lessons away from this week’s soap opera. The first is the welcome observation that the Regulator – if not his wards – has a good understanding of public values and expectations. With any luck, Digicel and TVL will learn a little from him. Second, it’s nice to see TVL and Digicel allowing themselves to be led by common sense rather than the overt exercise of regulatory clout.

One hopes most of all, though, that TVL and Digicel have learned a lesson too. Of all the public criticisms that emerged over the last week or so, one thing is clear: Both telecoms companies should spend more time looking to their own affairs than minding their neighbour’s. If they spent as much time and effort improving network quality and customer service as they devoted to talking about it, people might not avert their eyes every time they pass one of their wall-sized posters.

For their own sake, both Digicel and TVL had better hope that their respective leopards can change their spots. If not, they’ll both have a lot of explaining to do to their customers.

This week, Digicel Vanuatu officially unveiled their new GPRS mobile Internet service. Their first event was held on Thursday last week at the Port Vila market house. Digicel staff demonstrated their service to passers-by and helped those with compatible phones to activate the service.

The process is simple enough. Just call Digicel’s Customer Care centre at 123, then tell the service representative the brand and model of your mobile phone. (Salesperson Maureen George offered some sage advice on this count – if you’re not sure what model you’ve got, just tell the service rep what brand it is and how much you paid. The service rep will know which model you mean.)

If your phone supports GPRS, Digicel will enable your account for the Internet service free of charge. You will then be sent a message containing the proper setting for your phone. Just enter the PIN number (1234) and accept the updated configuration.

If your Digicel mobile isn’t on the list of phones for which Digicel provides automatic configuration, don’t despair. You can still use the service, but you’ll have to enter the configuration values yourself. It’s not too difficult, but if you’re feeling uncertain, you might want to find a helpful geek to lend a hand.

Remember, though: Whether your phone is supported or not, you still need to call Digicel Customer Care at 123 to get your account activated.

There is no charge to enable mobile Internet service on your mobile phone.

Interest so far seems to be rather high. When I spoke with them, Digicel marketing staff were quite excited by what they were seeing. Arnob Bhattacharjee, Head of Sales & Distribution, told me he’d seen a huge increase in the call volumes to their Customer Care line, most of it driven by interest in this new Internet service.

Frankly, I was surprised to hear this. You see, the value of having access to the Internet is so that you can contact those others who already have it. So there was some question in my mind about how quickly momentum would build for this new service.

When I first arrived in Vanuatu, it took the better part of a year to get the organisations I worked with to start checking and using email on a regular basis. At the beginning, email existed more as a convenience for overseas partners than for local use. One might expect a few messages a week, more if there was a particular job of work to be done. It was only after nearly everyone had continuous and individual access to the service that it became common.

It appears that Digicel’s 70,000 strong user base is helping them in this regard. If their reports are correct, early adoption of this new service is quite significant. “Since our launch,” says, Tanya Menzies, CEO of Digicel Vanuatu, “customers expectations have dictated the need for better and innovative services while staying in touch with loved ones and conducting daily business, hence our introduction of Digicel’s state of the art EDGE\GPRS service.”

She continues, “We will continue to rollout new innovations, being first to market with solutions that positively impact the lives of both our corporate and individual customers.”

GPRS service fills an interesting niche within the overall Internet picture. In spite of the fact that local rates – 400 vatu per megabyte – are lower than the average commercial offering in the US and Australia, they’re still quite high relative to fixed-line Internet services like TVL’s. If you want to skype all day long, view video or download your latest software updates, GPRS is not the thing for you.

But when you think about the things a mobile phone does best – checking messages, getting a quick information fix or firing off a quick note to someone – Digicel’s GPRS service is a moderately affordable and extremely efficient solution. A typical email message (without any files attached) is only a few kilobytes in size. You could reasonably expect to send and receive between 1-200 such messages before you’d used a single megabyte.

Sending a quick photo to your family in the islands, checking the weather or a shipping schedule – all these things are practical and affordable activities that can add real value to having a mobile phone.

Some mobile phones can do double duty as GPRS modems. Plug your modem into a laptop with a data cable, and you’ve got yourself a quick and easy Internet connection anywhere in Digicel’s coverage area. Arnob Bhattacharjee assured me as well that USB GPRS modems will soon be available for sale at Digicel’s flagship store in downtown Vila.

Again, bandwidth charges add up in a hurry, so don’t expect to be able to treat this connection as an all-you-can-eat Internet buffet. Used wisely, it can provide extremely useful services, everywhere you go. And because it’s available pre-paid as well as post, you can at least ration your intake.

Something else to bear in mind when you consider how to put this service to use: Not all mobile phones were created equal. Just because yours is GPRS-capable, don’t assume that everything will be roses. As I’ve discovered to my dismay, the Motorola I bought some time ago (in anticipation of this day) has poor software, a terrible configuration interface, and doesn’t seem capable of maintaining a data connection for more than about 5 minutes at a time.

To be clear: This has nothing to do with the quality of Digicel’s service, and everything to do with the quality of my personal experience of it. If you’re considering a new mobile with GPRS capability, choose it well, and insist that you be allowed to test it before you buy. That way you won’t regret your choice.

Digicel plans further public events to let people know what this new service offers them. Details will be forthcoming in the next week or so.

Update for online readers: Digicel Vanuatu’s Manager for Commercial Operations did finally contact me, too late, alas, for the publication deadline, which had been pushed  forward this week to accommodate the Good Friday holiday. We had a thorough discussion, and he cleared up a few things that were left as question marks in the original column. I’ve updated the text below, and have tried to show what’s changed between the original version and this one. – DM

About 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday this week, an email hit the VIGNET mailing list, announcing that Digicel had rolled out its long-awaited mobile Internet service. Using radio waves to send data over the Internet, Digicel’s GPRS service significantly increases the value and flexibility of their services.

Charging rates cheaper than many in the US and Australia, Digicel have raised the bar in terms of customer expectations once again. Now, Digicel subscribers can send multimedia messages to one another or browse the web from their laptop or mobile phone. You can now take a photo with your camera and send it to a friend, send them a ring tone they like, read your email from your phone, or check out an important web page.

Sending photos from your phone may sound frivolous, but think about it for a second: Hubby is sent to pick up some baby products at the supermarket. Faced with a dizzying array of choices, he take a photo of one, sends it to his wife with the question, ‘Are these what you meant?’ Domestic harmony is well worth the expense.

A caveat before I go on: I’m composing this column less than 24 hours after the initial public roll-out, and Digicel management have yet to reply replied too late to my requests for information, so whatever information you find here is of necessity incomplete and possibly mistaken. Some of the information in the print version of this column is incomplete.

In fact, if it were not for the intervention of a kindly technician, I wouldn’t have GPRS service on my phone at all. As things stand right now, Digicel formally supports about 14 different mobile models from Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung and Motorola. If you have one of the supported phones, all you need to do is phone Digicel customer care at 123, and the very courteous and professional support staff will automatically configure your phone for you.

There’s no charge to enable this new service. Both pre-paid and post-paid phones are eligible, and though fees have yet to be formally announced, I’ve been told that customers are charged about 400 vatu per megabyte downloaded. In real terms, if you’re reading 20-30 text-only emails per day on your mobile, you’ll likely find it costs less than 2000 vatu more per month.

My Motorola W375 was not on the list of supported phones, but a very helpful technician was kind enough to go above and beyond the call of duty. Well into the evening, he called me and helped me through the configuration, which turned out to be trivially easy. (It’s a curious thing, but even though I’m capable of writing complex software applications, I’m still the kind of guy who has trouble changing the time on his phone.)

The technician reassured me that any mobile that supports GPRS will be compatible with Digicel’s service. This was later confirmed by Digicel. If you have one of the 14 currently supported models, Digicel customer care will set everything up for you. If not, you’ll might need to enlist a local geek to lend a helping hand. In either case, you do need to ring 123 in order to get your account enabled for digital data service.

I spent several hours last night and this morning playing around with the service. It was a little up-and-down last night, but that’s to be expected in the early hours after the roll-out. So far today, it’s been pretty solid. Again, full credit goes to the hard-working technical staff who, I don’t doubt, are a little short on sleep right now.

One of the more interesting things I can do with my mobile is to plug it into my computer and use it as a modem. This means that someone with a laptop and an appropriate mobile phone can hook into the Internet from just about anywhere in Vila or Santo and get a quick hit of Internet.

GPRS isn’t particularly cheap, and it won’t take the place of a full-time Internet connection (like TVL’s ADSL broadband service) in the home. But if you need to get online from anywhere and you don’t get too download-happy, you should find Digicel’s service remarkably useful and more affordable than similar offerings in developed nations.

Reaction among the online community has been almost universally positive. One person who had a preview of Digicel’s mobile Internet service was writes:

“As a foreigner coming to Vanuatu, the ability of picking up a GPRS enabled SIM card and putting it in my phone is just wonderful. No longer am I limited to checking my Push email on my phone in the hotel’s lobby or going to a friend’s place and using his wifi… Now I can have my email on the move, when ever I want, wherever I want.

“I think this is a great advancement for Internet in Vanuatu.

“When/if Digicel start selling USB GPRS dongles that will make the internet much more accessible to the average home user with a computer. Sure it will be expensive, but if all you are doing is using google chat (or variants) and sending small emails, then it will be affordable.

“The speed for looking at mobile optimised websites such as news.com.au is fine. Last week i sat down at [the Last Flight kava bar] and checked what was news back in Australia – too easy!”

A member of the Vanuatu Government’s Geohazards Project wrote in to tell me that GPRS will likely be an invaluable part of their overall service plan. GPRS in the islands would allow them to send important visual and sensor data via email, and do so more cheaply than satellite. This could make the difference between life and death in the event of a volcano, tsunami or other natural disaster. “For us,” says Sylvain Todman, “it is a revolution!”

Digicel’s mobile Internet service isn’t the final piece in the connectivity puzzle, but it’s an important one. There’s every indication so far that it’s being rolled out with the same dedication and professionalism as their original GSM service.

I strongly suspect that one of the biggest drivers of this service will be international traffic. The ability to send email from a mobile will make it easier for families of those working abroad in New Zealand or Australia to stay in touch. Likewise, business travelers visiting Vanuatu will be extremely glad of the service and pricing.

If and when GPRS service reaches the islands, it GPRS is available throughout Digicel’s coverage area. In the islands especially, it could prove a real boon to business. Imagine being able to send a photo of your prize kava plant, batch of fish, produce, what have you, and get an immediate commitment from a buyer before you put it on the plane.

I tried to contact Digicel’s management in order to get authoritative information concerning the service, to no avail but they responded too late for me to include their feedback in the print version of this story. Questions concerning the service coverage area, pricing for post-paid customers and which mobile phones exactly are supported by customer care all went unanswered.

Digicel’s mobile Internet service is an important piece in the communications puzzle. Despite the unanswered questions, o One can’t help but feel good seeing another entrant into Vanuatu’s Internet market. There will be more, and different, but this is a big step in the right direction.

We need fiber, and we need it soon.

No, I’m not talking about changing the nation’s diet. I’m talking about fiber-optic cable. Made of very long strands of glass fiber, this kind of cable has the unique ability to allow light to turn corners. This means that we can shoot tiny laser pulses into one end of it and have them emerge intact from the other end, even if it’s thousands of kilometers away.

The result? Fast, very high-capacity communications become possible. In laboratory experiments, researchers have achieved rates of up to 14 trillion bits of data per second. Current commercial implementations don’t go nearly that fast, but even a single thread of fiber a few millimeters wide can carry billions of bits every second. Just a few strands would be enough to increase Vanuatu’s total available bandwidth to a large multiple of its current capacity.

So what’s the catch? Why haven’t we invested in a fiber connection yet? Fiji has it, and so does New Caledonia. Why not Vanuatu?

The stock reply is that it’s too expensive right now. But that answer is a little too pat. In order to understand how why nobody has done more than contemplate a fiber link with the rest of the world, we need to understand a thing or two about large-scale projects.

The Christmas edition of the Economist magazine features an article examining the results of the recently collapsed US housing bubble. The author writes that when there’s a boom in investment in material goods (as opposed to finance funds or other services), the prospect of benefits down the line sometimes create a speculator’s market.

People invest large amounts of money, often more than the actual long-term value of the goods produced, but rationalise it by their investment’s resale value. In Florida in the 1920s, land speculation reached such a fever pitch that some people were buying vastly inflated properties and flipping them the very same day.

When the bubble finally did collapse, investors lost their shirts. But that was inevitable; the amount of money invested was way out of line with the actual value of the properties. People’s perception of the properties’ value lost touch with reality.

Most people take a pretty simple (and valid) lesson from this: Avoid speculative investments. Don’t bet the farm and you won’t lose it.

But what happens when the potential benefits of a speculative venture could change the economic landscape? The channel tunnel linking England and France, the Panama Canal and the Golden Gate Bridge were all immense undertakings that opened new doors to business, but whose cost made even the most stout-hearted blanch.

The channel tunnel’s construction was backed by a bond issue, but because of cost overruns of nearly 80% of the original estimate, the tunnel operator has faced chronic financial difficulties. The first attempt to join the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by a French consortium failed in 1898. The US took over, and justified the immense cost for strategic reasons. The Panama Canal vastly improved America’s ability to project its naval power in the region. Begun during the Great Depression, the Golden Gate Bridge was underwritten entirely by the San Francisco-based Bank of America. The last bridge bond was paid off in 1971, a full 37 years after the bridge was completed. In 2006 its operating deficit was estimated at $80 million for the next 5 years.

In each case, the project was (or became) a labour of love for the investors. But the benefit to the larger community was immense, and of enduring value. And this is exactly the point that the Economist makes. Whatever fond hopes prompted people to commit, and whatever the fate of investors, the edifice remains and is still innately valuable.

Given the size of our respective economies, laying a fiber cable to Vanuatu is similar in scale to each of these projects. For some years now, people throughout the Pacific region have been weighing the benefits of fiber optic links against the relatively large financial investment required.

The problem has been sliced, diced and analysed nearly to death. I’d hesitate to say, though, that we’ve really come to grips once crucial detail: The government of Vanuatu simply can’t pony up the tens of millions of dollars required. So who else could pay?

The cost of laying a cable between Port Vila and Nouméa (the nearest location with existing fiber) would cost in the tens of millions. Annual operating fees would likely be in the millions as well. But compared to satellite communications, the cost per megabyte of pushing data over such a link would be much lower.

That’s one reason to move. But what happens to significant investment in infrastructure that our carriers have already made? In Digicel’s case, they’ve only just started to see a return on about $30 million invested. Given the state of financial markets today, would cost savings be enough to motivate them to turn around and drop half as much again – possibly more – so soon after their initial outlay?

TVL may be better positioned to consider this. They’ve been investing heavily in recent months, but that’s consisted mostly of incremental improvements to their existing infrastructure. Arguably, they wouldn’t face as much difficulty integrating fiber into their plans.

Laying the cable isn’t the end of the investment, though. Vastly increasing the size and the quality of our link to the outside world is one thing, but we have to be able to use it. The price of connecting to TVL’s urban fiber loop here in Vila is shockingly high right at the moment. I’m aware of few businesses that have even contemplated purchasing a link. Wireless Internet services from several providers will be rolling out soon, but we don’t know yet what access speeds they’ll be offering, nor what value-added network services they intend to provide.

A Vanuatu-based investor in fiber faces a bit of a chicken-and-egg scenario. Local bandwidth won’t increase radically until international capacity does, but if you increase international capacity via a fiber link, you sure as shootin’ don’t want to wait years for the market to mature.

Normally, this is where government steps in. They guarantee a loan (or offer some kind of concessionary deal) that allows the investor to recoup their outlay over a longer period of time. As I’ve said, though, the government of Vanuatu can’t do that. They manage their financial house moderately well, but there’s no such thing as extra cash in their budget.

The government could bring tools other than financial into the mix, though. By exercising a little regulatory discretion they could help create an environment that rewarded long-term thinking while at the same time ensuring that this new resource is open and accessible to all.

The bottom line is this: The economic benefits of a fiber-optic connection to the outside world cannot be overstated. But it’s got to be seen as a labour of love. The benefits to be derived from the operation of the cable itself might never be great. If it’s not managed properly, the cost of failure could be high indeed. That said, the knock-on benefits to the community are numerous.

Call center services for European customers, online education, interactive tourism resources (video feed from the Nangol, anyone?), live video lectures from universities overseas, online consultations by medical specialists, offshore financial transaction processing… the list goes on and on. All of this becomes possible if we improve our basic infrastructure.

All we need is to find someone foolish – or far-sighted – enough to foot the bill.