The coming broadband revolution

The revolution has begun and, according to all those involved, it will move very, very quickly.
Amidst much hoopla – including drummers, dancers and PowerPoint – Telecom Cook Islands on Monday signed an agreement with o3b (Other Three Billion) Networks Ltd that promises to change the way the country experiences the internet.
The first change will involve speed: o3b’s proposed constellation of medium-earth-orbit satellites will circle the equator at a much-lower altitude than the fixed satellites Telecom CI uses now. When it comes to delivering internet, lower equals faster.
“The days of the Cook Islands having restricted download speeds and very slow user experience are going to be over,” said Simon Maher, o3b’s vice-president for International Carrier Accounts.
Telecom CI CEO Jules Maher, who joked that, despite the same last name, he is not, in fact, related to the o3b rep, was a little more flamboyant in his description of the signing ceremony.
“This is a historic occasion,” he said. “Not only for Telecom Cook Islands, but for the whole of the Cook Islands. This will mean internet speeds four or five times faster than now, and we’ll have so much more capacity.”
The catch – and you knew a carrot as massive as faster broadband speed had to come with some kind of caveat – is that we’ll have to endure the exquisite torture only buffering can induce until 2012.
“A venture this large takes a lot of planning,” said Jules Maher. “(o3b) had to raise a lot of money. They’ve had to then go and get the technology together. Anything as big as this, as significant, takes time.”
But, Mayer added, “it will be worth waiting for”.
According to Simon Maher, the Cook Islands is the first Pacific island nation to sign on the dotted line. Once word spreads about this deal, he expects other countries that have also shied away from the exorbitant cost of using submarine fibre-optic cable, to start queuing up for the service.
“Everyone wants fast broadband,” said Telecom’s Maher. “It’s as simple as that. Faster, the better. Cheaper, the better. Customers have been telling us about their frustration with slow broadband and so this is the answer. It’s fantastic technology – it’s the equivalent of having a fibre-optic cable dropping from the sky.”
Despite rumours of a number of o3b contracts fluttering around the island, Telecom CI is the first to actually take the financial plunge and put pen to paper and cash to mouth. Still, Jules Maher, said, the telco does not have an exclusive deal.
“If somebody else wanted to negotiate with (o3b), they still could,” he says. “Somebody would have to have pretty deep pockets and great expectations of huge growth to actually go and buy the same minimum capacity that we’ve just bought. But we’re happy to talk to others about selling them some capacity if they wanted to on-sell. We’re certainly willing to cooperate with that.”
Bottom line: will the Cook Islands be a different country come 2012?
“Time will tell,” said Simon Maher. “But I believe so.”

Herald Issue 463 10 June
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