Find Telecommunication expertise in Samoa

There are 10,000 main telephone lines in use (2012), 693 mobile phone users and 50 internet users per 1,000 Samoan inhabitants (2008).  There are 3 TV stations but multi-channel pay TV services are available as well as about a dozen radio stations, some of which are repeater stations (2009).

BlueSky SamoaTel is the sole provider of landline telephone services within the country. BlueSky SamoaTel is a shareholding in which 25% of shares are owned by the government initiative Unit Trust of Samoa, while the other 75% are owned by private company BlueSky Communications and other investors from Samoa and American Samoa. The organisation is also one of the two main cellular phone providers within Samoa, along with Digicel Samoa. Mobile market competition between BlueSky Samoa and Digicel Samoa has helped boost mobile penetration to almost 100%. Computer Systems Limited (CSL), Samoa’s leading ISP, provides broadband using WiMAX technology. BlueSky Samoa offers ADSL broadband services.

The Office of the Regulator is the main regulatory body of the sector, and its role is to establish a fair and unbiased international investment in telecommunications services in the country.

Samoa’s international connectivity is provided by the Samoa-American-Samoa (SAS) submarine cable and by an Intelsat satellite. Samoa may have a second submarine cable by early 2016. Hawaiki Cable Ltd is planning to build a submarine cable system linking Australia, New Zealand, USA, and several Pacific islands including Samoa. If implemented, this cable would greatly increase Samoa’s available bandwidth and give the country’s telecom market a substantial boost.