Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Communications Manoa Kamikamica has clarified that the deployment of 5G should address local pain points and have use cases that benefit the communities and should not be restricted to Suva or Nadi.
While making his Ministerial statement in Parliament on the National Strategy for 5G Spectrum Assignment and Commercial Deployment, Kamikamica states that 5G will be deployed strategically and responsibly, aligning with national development goals and infrastructure readiness.
He says Phase 1 will cover Suva, Nadi, Lautoka, and then the main corridors, ports, and medical centres.
The Minister says this ensures that from the outset, Fiji's commercial centres, tourism hubs and emergency services gain immediate access to 5G capacity and begin to feel its benefits.
He highlighted that in Phase 2 from 2026 to 2027, it will extend to Nasinu, Lami, Labasa and Savusavu.
Kamikamica says this supports balanced growth between Viti Levu and Vanua Levu as the coalition advances the development of its plans in the north.
The Minister says by 2038, Phase 3 will see 5G deployed in Nausori, Sigatoka, Navua, Ba, Tavua, Rakiraki, Korovou, and they have also included Taveuni in their 5G deployment.
He adds that the Government recognises the need to work with operators to ensure that the infrastructure required is in place for 5G expansion to Tavueni.
The Deputy Prime Minister says the 5G spectrum pricing strategy is both fair and future-looking, noting that there are no established comparative pricing models in the region, as some Pacific Island countries have conservative 5G deployment strategies.
Kamikamica also stressed that with new types of technologies, there are always concerns about health, and the World Health Organisation report states that no adverse health effects have been causally linked with exposure to wireless technologies, including 5G.
He adds that since 2019, over 70 countries have deployed 5G, including Tonga and Samoa, with no reported health impacts when operating within global safety standards.
He says if new scientific evidence were to show exposure to a radio frequency known as EMF at levels that pose health concerns, they will take action to protect our people.
Responding to the statement, Opposition MP Faiyaz Koya commended the roll-out plan for 5G but also raised concerns over security and energy consumption.
He raised concerns that with 5G, hackers can get into our systems very quickly.
Koya says with this new technology, we are moving closer to hackers, malware, and potential breaches as the speed of this software is actually quite phenomenal.
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