Telecommunications in Tuvalu

Telecommunications in Tuvalu need to address the geography of Tuvalu as the country is made up of 6 atolls and 3 reef islands. The islands of Tuvalu rely on satellite dishes for communication and internet access.

The Tuvalu Telecommunications Corporation (TTC), a state-owned enterprise, provides fixed line telephone communications to subscribers on each island and mobile phone services on Funafuti, Vaitupu and Nukulaelae. TTC is a distributor of Fiji Television service (Sky Pacific satellite television service).[1]

Telephones - main lines in use: 900 (2005)

Telephones - mobile cellular: 1300 (2005)

Telephone system:
domestic: radiotelephone communications between islands
international: country code - 688; international calls can be made by satellite

Radio broadcast stations: AM 1, FM 0, shortwave 0 (2011) - The Tuvalu Media Department of the Government of Tuvalu operates Radio Tuvalu, which broadcasts on the AM frequency. In 2011 the Japanese government provided financial support to construct a new AM broadcast studio.[2] The new AM radio transmitter on Funafuti replaced the FM radio service to the outer islands and freed up satellite bandwidth for mobile services.[1]

Radios: 4,000 (1997)

Television broadcast stations: TTC is a distributor of Fiji Television service (Sky Pacific satellite television service).[1]

Televisions: unknown number.

Internet Service Providers (ISPs): Tuvalu.tv is the sole provider of Internet access in Tuvalu. The ISP is operated by the ICT (Information and Communications Technology) Department of the Government of Tuvalu.

The available bandwidth is only 512 kbit/s uplink, and 1.5 Mbit/s downlink. Throughout Tuvalu are more than 900 subscribers who want to use the satellite service, with demand slowing down the speed of the entire system.[3] TTC currently operates satellite internet services with less than 20 Mbit/s of capacity.[4] In June 2014 TTC signed a five-year agreement with Kacific Broadband Satellites for the supply of provide high speed bandwidth to the islands of Tuvalu.[4] The service will be provided by the Kacific-1 satellite - Ka band High Throughput Satellite (HTS) - that is due to be launched in late 2016 or early 2017. Kacific will provide TTC with increasing levels of capacity over the period, starting with 80Mbit/s and up to 150 Mbit/s after four years. TTC can, take extra capacity - up to 225 Mbit/s.[4]

Country code (Top level domain): TV (see .tv)

References

  1. 1 2 3 Andrew McIntyre, Brian Bell, and Solofa Uota (February 2012). ""Fakafoou – To Make New": Tuvalu Infrastructure Strategy and Investment Plan" (PDF). Government of Tuvalu. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  2. ↑ Endou, Shuuichi (30 December 2011). "New AM Radio Station in Funafuti". Tuvalu-News.TV. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  3. ↑ Atufenua Maui, Tony Kwato'o, Ronald Vetter, Yoshifumi Chisaki, and Tsuyoshi Usagawa (June 2012). Preliminary Use of an E-learning Pilot System for Secondary Educational Institutions in Tuvalu: The Initial Implementation (PDF). The Initial Implementation. International Journal of e-Education, e-Business, e-Management and e-Learning, Vol. 2, No. 3,.
  4. 1 2 3 "Tuvalu Telecommunications signs broadband deal with Kacific". Voxy.com.nz. 9 June 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2014.

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the CIA World Factbook.


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