22 Dec 2010

Free WiFi in Niue from next month

3:26 pm on 22 December 2010

The free broadband WiFi service on Niue should be rolled out to the last of the island's 14 villages in January.

The company Rocket Systems, which provides support systems for the service administered for the people of Niue by the charitable foundation, IUSN, says it's expanded the network to three more villages this year.

The company's owner Emani Fakaotimanava-Lui says the final four villages should be online by January, despite the difficulties of connecting the service to tiny remote villages.

He says they've also been increasing bandwidth by installing a second satellite dish, which is improving the service for businesses.

"They are able to do a lot more of their online banking, to pay for their orders from overseas compared to say sending a bank TT, which costs a little bit more. And also just the level of communication, they are able to access websites that they can order online instead of just using emails. It's really been positive for everyone."

Emani Fakaotimanava-Lui says the increased bandwidth is enabling households to use SKYPE and post photos so they can keep in closer touch with family overseas.