Transcript
MARK BROWN: What we are hoping for is to have a memorandum signed next month between our three countries, or four including Niue, to commit to the cable project.
SALLY ROUND: What will the cable project mean for the Cook Islands?
MB: Well having the high speed broadband connectivity to the rest of the world would transform a lot of the industry here, both in the telecommunications sector but also entertainment, finance but also in the social areas. The delivery of health and education programmes, being able to do that and utilise the technology that is available with high speed connectivity will be transformative.
SR: How's it being paid for?
MB: Well each country will pay their share of the construction costs of the cable of course. The Cook Islands, we will be borrowing some of that component through the Asian Development Bank and we have some of our own money we will be putting in but also we will be looking at some equity partners to invest in the cable and our component of the cable.
SR: And how much will it be costing the Cook Islands?
MB: For the Cook Islands we estimate it to cost between 30 and 40 million dollars for the construction cost of the cable. That is our part of it.
SR: How fast is the broadband going to be?
MB: Well as fast as you get anywhere around the world with the cable connection. Currently we rely on satellite connection and that is quite expensive, quite costly. It will be cheaper but of course the costs are going to depend on how many users there are so the more users or the more data that travels through the cables, the costs can be shared. So we are hoping that the cable speeds will encourage more usage but by connecting to both French Polynesia and to Samoa we would see an increased number of traffic that comes through, utilising the cable, thereby reducing the operating costs that are passed on to the consumers.
SR: Is the government thinking ahead to the social issues that might come about as a result of this real opening up of the internet? Child pornography, for example.
MB: Oh yes. I think there are issues around how the internet can be used for things like pornography, transmitting unlawful content and so forth. For us, the internet or the connecting to the world, has really allowed our remote communities in the outer islands to be able to connect instantly with their families in Australia and New Zealand. That has a far greater impact right now but certainly the government would have to look at what impacts these other social effects would have.
SR: Would there be blocking for instance?
MB: Well that's a possibility and that occurs in other countries. That's not something that we have discussed or looked at. As yet, I am not aware of any great social issues around the use of internet.