Advanced 4G LTE services arrive in Fiji
Fiji plays an important role in the Pacific Islands as it is one of the most advanced economies in the region. Fijian citizens rely heavily on telecommunication services in order to stay connected in an increasingly globalised society.
Fiji presents a challenging geographic environment for infrastructure development generally, due to its population being spread across more than 100 islands. However the majority of Fijians live on the two main islands of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu.
In 2018 the Fijian government implemented plans to connect the two major islands via a submarine cable system - and this will provide high-speed Internet access to the residents of Fiji's second largest island.
This will also provide a more secure link between the two islands in times of emergency weather events like the regular tropical cyclones which often cause much destruction to this area. These natural disasters often destroy infrastructure including electricity and telecoms equipment.
The rural, remote and maritime communities of Fiji will also receive a boost to their communication services in 2018 with the Fijian government's television infrastructure arm, Walesi, obtaining more satellite capacity from Eutelsat. This will allow Free-to-Air (FTA) television to be broadcast to wider range of remote communities.
Overall, Fiji hosts a relatively sophisticated communications infrastructure with the highest mobile and Internet penetration in the Pacific islands. Further improvements to networks are continuing with Digicel Fiji rolling out its LTE-A network in the more highly populated areas of Fiji.
Key developments:
ATH was given regulatory approval to acquire BlueSky Cook Islands in late 2017.
Fiji is demonstrating initial progress towards 5G readiness.
Pricing reductions in data and hardware together with an increase in bandwidth availability have seen mobile broadband penetration increase dramatically over the last couple of years.
Communications Fiji Limited (CFL) sold its minority shareholding (12.5%) in Unwired Fiji to Digicel in June 2017.
Companies covered in this report include:
Amalgamated Telecom Holdings (ATH), Telecom Fiji Limited (TFL), Fiji International Telecommunications Limited (FINTEL), Pacific Emerging Technologies (PET), Southern Cross Cable Network (SCCN), Vodafone Fiji Limited (VFL), Digicel Fiji, Inkk Mobile, Unwired Fiji, Fintel Internet Services (Kidanet).
- 1. Executive Summary
- 2. Key statistics
- 2.1 Country overview
- 3. Telecommunications market
- 3.1 Market overview
- 3.2 Market analysis
- 4. Regulatory environment
- 4.1 Historical overview
- 4.2 Regulatory authorities
- 4.3 The Radisson Accord and Deeds of Settlement
- 4.4 Telecom sector liberalisation in Fiji
- 4.5 Compulsory Registration of Customers for Telephone Services Decree 2010
- 4.6 Mobile regulatory issues
- 4.6.1 Opt-in for mobile messaging.
- 4.6.2 Third generation (3G) mobile
- 4.6.3 Interconnect
- 4.6.4 Spectrum
- 4.6.5 MTRs
- 4.6.6 MNP
- 4.6.7 Network sharing
- 5. Competition issues
- 5.1 Telecommunication services price regulation
- 5.1.1 Background
- 5.1.2 Network termination rates
- 5.1.3 Telecommunications Levy
- 6. Fixed network operators
- 6.1 Amalgamated Telecom Holdings Ltd (ATH)
- 6.2 Telecom Fiji (TFL)
- 6.3 Fiji International Telecommunications Ltd (Fintel)
- 6.4 Pacific Emerging Technologies (PET)
- 7. Telecommunications infrastructure
- 7.1 National telecom network
- 7.1.1 Overview
- 7.1.2 Fixed line statistics
- 7.1.3 Wireless Local Loop (WLL)
- 7.2 International infrastructure
- 7.2.1 Overview of the national telecom network
- 7.3 Next Generation Network (NGN)
- 7.4 International infrastructure (satellite, submarine)
- 7.4.1 Southern Cross Cable Network (SCCN)
- 7.4.2 Fiji to Tonga connected
- 7.4.3 Fiji to Vanuatu connected ICN1
- 7.4.4 Tui-Samoa cable
- 7.4.5 Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs)
- 7.4.6 Planned satellite expansion
- 8. Smart infrastructure
- 8.1 Smart grids/renewable energy
- 8.2 Data centres, cloud computing
- 9. Fixed broadband
- 9.1 Broadband statistics
- 9.2 Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks
- 10. Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) and Fibre-To-The-Home (FttH)
- 10.1 Introduction
- 10.1.1 National broadband policy
- 10.1.2 Fiji Internet Exchange (FIX) and Internet Exchange Point (IXP)
- 10.1.3 Tele-centre project to bridge the digital divide
- 11. Other fixed broadband services
- 11.1 Fixed wireless (WiFi and WiMAX)
- 11.1.1 WiFi
- 11.1.2 WiMAX
- 12. Digital economy
- 12.1 E-commerce
- 12.2 E-banking
- 13. Digital media
- 13.1 Broadcasting
- 13.2 VoIP
- 13.3 Music-streaming
- 14. Mobile communications
- 14.1 Market analysis
- 14.2 Mobile statistics
- 14.2.1 General statistics
- 14.2.2 Mobile broadband statistics
- 14.3 Mobile infrastructure
- 14.3.1 5G
- 14.3.2 4G LTE
- 14.3.3 3G
- 15. Major mobile operators
- 15.1 Vodafone Fiji (VFL)
- 15.1.1 Revenue
- 15.1.2 Mobile voice and data services
- 15.2 Digicel Fiji
- 15.3 MVNOs
- 16. Mobile content and applications
- 16.1 m-banking (payments/loans)
- 17. Mobile handsets
- 18. Related reports
- Table 1 Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities- Fiji 2018 (e)
- Table 2 Evolution of GDP and inflation in Fiji 2012 - 2018
- Table 3 ATH Group and Holding Company revenue and operating profit 2015; 2017
- Table 4 Telecom Fiji key financials 2015, 2017
- Table 5 FINTEL sales revenue 2014 - 2017
- Table 6 Fixed lines in service and teledensity 2006 - 2018
- Table 7 Internet bandwidth 1999 - 2016
- Table 8 Internet users and internet penetration rate 2005 - 2018
- Table 9 Fixed broadband subscribers and penetration rate 2004 - 2018
- Table 10 Mobile subscribers, annual change and penetration rate 2005 - 2018
- Table 11 Mobile broadband subscribers and penetration rate 2008 - 2018
- Table 12 Vodafone Fiji Limited revenue 2015 2017
- Table 13 Historical - Estimated Vodafone Fiji Limited ARPU 2008 - 2014
- Table 14 Vodafone Fiji Limited mobile subscribers 2009 - 2017
- Chart 1 Mobile subscriber versus mobile broadband subscriber growth 2008 - 2018
- Exhibit 1 Impact of Cyclone Winston
- Exhibit 2 Regulatory and telecoms background a brief overview 1895 - 2007
- Exhibit 3 Subscriber details are required for phone registration
- Exhibit 4 Background information on the rise and fall of fixed-line market in Fiji
- Exhibit 5 An overview of University of the South Pacific, AARNet and Japan-Pacific ICT
- Exhibit 6 The award of the second mobile licence
- Exhibit 7 An overview of mobile money in Fiji
- Exhibit 8 A brief overview of the M-PAiSA system