Fijians living in 240 remote and maritime sites nationwide have been identified to be inadequately connected or not connected to the online world at all, and the government is working with the provincial offices to identify any other community that is not covered under these sites.
This has been highlighted by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Communications, Manoa Kamikamica during the launch of the USAID Digital Connectivity and Cybersecurity Partnership – Pacific Activity.
He says in Fiji, we have 95 percent internet connectivity through the 3G, 4G and 4G+ networks, and to ensure meaningful universal connectivity, they are working in close collaboration with the telecommunication operators and relevant stakeholders to identify the remaining 5 percent of the people.
Kamikamica says this is to ensure that when we progress – we progress to connect a whole province and not just a few villages or communities sparingly.
The Deputy Prime Minister says Fiji is also part of the UN Smart Island Programme, and Rotuma has been identified as the pilot island.
He says the goal is to address socio-economic challenges and improve livelihoods by connecting people in Rotuma to a suite of digitally enabled services through the use of new and emerging technology and digital transformation.
Kamikamica says a scoping exercise has been completed and once the Smart Island Programme is successfully rolled out in Rotuma, they can use those insights as they deploy to other unconnected and under-served areas.
The Deputy Prime Minister says they have also commenced discussions on drafting of the National Cybersecurity Strategy and will be looking at Data Protection frameworks next.
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