Government ministries, hospitals and schools across Solomon Islands will soon have internet access via satellite for the first time.
Under a Government agreement, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community will install the rural internet connectivity system at 21 sites across the country this year.
The Coordinator for the SPC Solomon Islands office, Mia Rimon says five government ministries have banded together to cover the costs, which will benefit provincial government offices, provincial hospitals, rural health centres and rural schools.
"The main focus for SPC and the government is to make this sustainable and to work over the next two years to train people in those five ministries and any others that would like to jump in on this, to be able to use internet on a daily basis for reporting, acquitting, telemedicine, ordering pharmaceuticals. There's just such an amazing amount of benefits for all of the ministries."
Mia Rimon says the system is already running successfully in 16 Pacific island countries including Tonga, the Cook Islands and Kiribati.
