The pricing of internet services from the Manatua cable will depend on each member country.
The Manatua Consortium has announced the cable is ready for service.
Co-Chair Manatua Consortium Ranulf Scarbrough said in terms of pricing, each of the four operators has exclusivity in their own country to sell capacity on the cable and set their own prices in their own country.
The Manatua cable is 3800 kilometres long and links Samoa, Niue, the Cook Islands and French Polynesia. The cable is expected to improve connectivity and lower costs.
The four Manatua consortium parties, of which Telecom Niue Limited is one, are sharing the costs of the cable,, and each, in return, receives capacity on it.
“In terms of prices to the public, international capacity is of course just one element of the price the end-user pays, albeit an important one. The costs of the local network distribution and service organization also need to be factored in. For Niue, these are questions best directed at Telecom Niue Limited, however, it is still very early days and all the four Manatua operators are working hard to finalize their plans as to how best to bring the benefits of the cable to end-users.” said Scarbrough
BCN News has sought a response from Telecom CEO Brett Collier who is yet to reply.