Transcript
MARK BROWN: Still in conjunction with New Zealand but also having discussions with French Polynesia and the telecom compnay involved in providing service in French Polynesia, OPT. And at the moment still finalising details of a connection to a cable that, at this stage, will be linked from Samoa to French Polynesia.
DON WISEMAN: Is that a link that takes you anywhere very much?
MB: Yes. Then it hooks up with the main cables going through Hawaii and then onto the rest of the world.
DW: How big a difference will that make for a place like Cook Islands?
MB: Well connecting onto a submarine cable provides a significant bandwidth availibility for the business community, for the telecommunications community, for all sorts. And it provides a huge economic benefit for businesses and for individuals. The studies have shown many times that connection to significant bandwidth at a good price has a huge impact on GDP growth, has a huge impact on the ability to expand education services, health services, all sorts of things.
DW: At the moment in terms of digital technology what the Cook Islands has is via satellite. Is that the case?
MB: All of our internet connectivity to the rest of the world wide web is through satellite communication. It is very expensive. And there are also some technical features that are not as advantageous compared with cable. So we are always looking at the opportunity to have cable connection and this particular project that we have been working with the New Zealand Government, trying to get cable connectivity, not just for the Cook Islands but also for Niue as well, is coming around at an opportune time for us. It is a very good opportunity for us and we are in the middle of some negotiations right now with the different parties that are involved.
DW: What's it likely to cost the Cook Islands?
MB: Well we have had studies done in the last couple of years, but I think we would be looking at the vicinity of about $US30 million for a cable connection for the Cook Islands.
DW: You would budget for that over the life of the cable.
MB: Well you would look at your financials in an investment like that. Determine what the returns would be to meet any costs and so forth, but there are all sorts of financing opportunities that are available to us, through development finance that New Zealand will make available, there is also our borrowing ability as a sovereign country. But there is also the opportunity for equity stake holders to invest in the company.
DW: Why has the Cook Islands then not been looking at this Hawaiki Cable which is coming a lot more closely to the Cook Islands, isn't it?
MB: Not really. We have been looking at Hawiki. Hawaiki were part of the initial discussions earlier this year when we met with cable companies and viewed their proposals.
DW: So it is just not a good enough deal for you?
MB: Well it comes down to cost at the end of the day. It is not to say that we won't have anything to do with Hawaiki. As I said discussions are ongoing with our current preferred partners and until things are confirmed the opportunities for other cable companies are still there.
