EAP - The Pacific Infrastructure Challenge - World Bank (2006).pdf

The proportion of mainline access as a component of total teledensity is relatively
high in the Pacific countries when compared with comparator countries. Fixed line
telephony accounts for over 80% of total teledensity for Federated States of
Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and the
Solomon Islands. Tonga follows closely with 77%. Most comparator countries, as
well as Fiji and Vanuatu, have almost equal levels of fixed and mobile telephony.
Mobile telephony was introduced late to the Pacific, often by the incumbent operator
using old technology 25 .
The dominance of fixed lines in most Pacific countries is similar to the situation in
Caribbean countries prior to telecommunications liberalization. In 1998 mainlines
accounted for over 80% of total teledensity levels for almost all Caribbean
countries 26 . In 2002, after the introduction of competition in mobile
telecommunications, half of these countries had mobile access roughly equivalent to
that of mainlines. In Belize, Dominican Republic and Jamaica, the mobile teledensity
level was significantly higher than mainline.
Figure A.2: Total Teledensity by Country
120
100
Total teledensity by component
80
60
40
Cellular lines per
100 inhabitants
Mainlines per 100
inhabitants
20
0
PNG
Solomon Islands
Timor
Kiribati
Vanuatu
Samoa
Marshall Islands
FSM
Tonga
Philippines
Fiji
Grenada
Saint Lucia
Dominica
Palau
Mauritius
St Kitts
Jamaica
Barbados
New Zealand
Source: ITU Data 2002 (Fiji, Marshall Islands and Vanuatu data 2003), Timor-Leste teledensity from
Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization, 2004
Notes: PNG: Papua New Guinea, FSM: Federated States of Micronesia
Telephone access is largely limited to urban areas in the Pacific countries. In Kiribati,
Marshall Islands, and Papua New Guinea between 85% and 100% of main lines are
in urban areas, and urban mainlines account for 70% and 72% in Micronesia and
Samoa respectively. This can be explained in part by the challenge of deploying a
telecommunications network across mountainous terrain or dispersed atolls, for
example, Kiribati’s land area is roughly equivalent to St Lucia’s, but it is spread over
an area the size of Western Europe 27 .
25 For example, AMPS is often employed instead of GSM
26 Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti,
Jamaica, St Kitts, St Lucia, St Vincent, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago
27 “Swimming Against the Tide: An Assessment of the Private Sector in the Pacific” ADB, 2004
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