IT in the Pacific Islands region New Caledonia€¦ · APAARI – Bangkok, December 2003 IT in the Pacific Islands region & New Caledonia

APAARI – Bangkok, December 2003

IT in the Pacific Islands region &

New Caledonia


IT in the PICTs

• Overall population: 8,000,000 islanders• Domestic field: heterogeneity in customer

bandwidth, ranges of services, infrastructuresused, penetration rate, and somewhat in standards used

• Mobile standard: GSM taking over AMPS (Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Cook Islands…)

• International field: a unique & universal means: satellite (except Fiji)


Mobile networks in the PICTs • Analog networks still in: Cook Isl., Mariana, Palau,

Niue, Kiribati, Solomon Isl.• TDMA in: Mariana• GSM in: New Caledonia, French Polynesia,

Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, American Samoa, Solomon Isl., FSM

Forecasted launches:• Dec. 2003 : GSM in Cook Isl. & Tuvalu • Q1, 2004: GSM in Kiribati• Dec. 2004 : GSM in Palau


IT in New Caledonia


General overview:

1 main island (« la Grande Terre »)

& 4 secondary islands (Maré, Lifou, Ouvéa, the Isle of Pines)


The main island: 5 key figures:

• Length: about 400 km

• Width: about 50 km• Surface area: about

20,000 sq kms• Population: about

200,000 people• Density: about 10

persons/sq km


Main island: facts

• A mountainous country• Plains along the western coasts• Valleys opening on the eastern coast• 1 city: Nouméa & suburbs (120,000 inhabitants =

60 p. cent of NC overall population)• Over 30 villages• Remainder of population: scattered in rural areas


Secondary islands: facts

• Most: coral islands• Moderately hilly (low

plateaux in Maré & Lifou)

• Small & scattered populations (about 20,000 in all)

• Rural & modern lifestyles side by side


Telecommunications: actors

• Domestic telecommunications: a single operator: the Office des Postes & Télécommunications (OPT-NC)

• International telephony: asubsidiary of FranceTelecom: France Câble & Radio (FCR)


Domestic telecommunications:services

• Fixed telephony (≈ 51,000 subscribers)• More than 1,000 public phone boothes

(1 = VSAT)• Mobile telephony: currently GSM/G2

[see details below] // Certainly GPRS soon• Internet: ≈ 17,000 users (among whom

10 p. cent ADSL subscribers) [see details below]


Telecommunications: solutions used

• Domestic uses: several types of information carriers (fibre optic, radio links) high capacities

• Standards of network: PDH, SDH, ISDN, IN, GSM 2G, ADSL

• External uses: only one medium currently in use: satellite, notably 2 links: 1 toPanAmSat’s U.S. PoP 1 to Teleglobe’sCanadian PoP


External telecommunications:satellite

1 dedicated international leased line (ILL):• Customer: Goro Nickel (mining company/ INCO

subsidiary) - 1 link Goro (NC) Brisbane (Australia)

• 1 project thus supported: nickel mining in South of New Caledonia’s main island

2 public purpose ILLs:• 1 link dedicated to Internet global connectivity(C Band)• 1 link dedicated to VSAT service (Ku Band)


Domestic telecommunications:transport network

• An optic tranport system on the main island

South to North on the West coast (Koné reached &should be in service by end of year 2003)

West coast to East coast (should be in servicebetween Koné & Poindimié by beginning of year2005)

• Optic segments in coral islands: currently existing in Maré; service in Lifou forecasted for 2004


Domestic telecommunications: radio link systems

• T o d a y : • Terrestrial transport system mainly hertzian• About 2,700 km of radio links• Through sea channels as well (Main island

secondary ones: an average crossing of 150 km)

• T o m o r r o w : maintaining of radio link systems for support purpose (redundancy with main fibre optic network portions)


Domestic telecommunications: radio link systems

Local loop uses in really remote areas(fixed GSM/DECT technologies): for public telephone booths & at private particulars’


Domestic telecommunications: VSAT

• A solution for rural & remote areas;first and only use to date: Petit Borendi settlement [Eastern Coast] from September 12 th, 2003


Domestic telecommunications:copper wire

• Transport lines (burried): > 700 km long

• Traditional local loop use• Last move towards an optimization of

copper wire: launch of ADSL service on July 1st, 2001


Domestic telecommunications: mobility

Currently: a GSM, 900 Mhz network• Effective since year 1996• ≈100 transmitting stations covering all

densely inhabited areas• Number of users (Nov. 2003): ≈ 94,000

Postpaid users: ≈ 22,000/steady growthPrepaid service users: ≈ 72,000/quickly growing


Domestic telecommunications: mobility

In a near future: a GPRS network• Implementation: 2004/2005?


External telecommunications:satellite

• A secondary operator: the OPT-NC itself

• Means: 5 antennas, OPT’s property (4 in New Caledonia/1 in Brisbane, Australia)

• Contractual relations with 2 international satellite operators (PanAmSat & Intelsat)


External telecommunications:tomorrow, a connection to

a submarine cable network?

Interest: enormous depending on Internettraffic

bulk of traffic enabledopportunity for traffic to growpossibility to secure cable communications bymaintaining satellite links

several schemes considered


Metropolitan France: 3Australia: 2New Zealand: 1United Kingdom: 1Hong Kong: 1French Polynesia: 1

Switzerland: 1Liechenstein: 1Italy: 1Spain: 1Vanuatu: 1Fidji: 1 (temporarily unilateral)

15 GSM fellow operators throughout12 countries:

Roaming:New Caledonia’s partnerships


Roaming:New Caledonia’s partnerships

• Negotiations with others currently runningincluding 2 Japanese operators

• General idea: getting as roaming partners:South Pacific countries GSM operatorsOperators from countries experiencing bulky human exchanges with New CaledoniaMetropolitan France’s surrounding countries


Internet

• Traditional Internet access available almost everywhere (where telephone lines available)…

• …But high-speed Internet (ADSL) still cantoned: availability depends on fibreoptic network [see below]


Internet

• 4 private ISPs [3 providing ADSL service], + 1 governmental

• All Internet services: hosting, analog & ISDN access, leased lines, high-speed connections (ADSL)…

• Some education entities (secundary & highercourses, & research) connected to french international education & research network RENATER


Internet

• An overall 17,000 Internet users• 90 p. cent PSTN accesses• 10 p. cent ADSL accesses: data rates

available ranging from 256 Kbps to 4,000Kbps

• Under way: implementation of an multi-government Internet awareness programme

10 primary schools from all over NewCaledonia connected in school year 2003



Thank you!

Any questions?

Reminder: e-mail: [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Documents

IT in the Pacific Islands region New Caledonia€¦ · APAARI – Bangkok, December 2003 IT in the Pacific Islands region & New Caledonia