GIFF JOHNSON
Dr. Yukiko Muller took over the reigns at the National Telecommunications Authority six weeks ago and is focused on a series of improvement projects.
The new CEO updated the Journal about the many projects on the priority list for NTA in the coming months.
Two of the upgrade projects are funded and in progress, while a third is urgently needed and funding is being sought.
The two that are funded include:
- A grant from the US Rural Utility Service that is supporting a number of upgrades, including continuing the fiber-to-home/business that NTA rolled out two years ago as it had funds available to do it. By the end of this year, upgrades will be moving into gear, she said. The RUS grant funding is $34 million.
- A grant from the US Treasury Department for connectivity, particularly aimed at providing 4G services to remote outer islands. It will also support a new satellite dish and upgrades of Majuro and Ebeye’s 4G to 5G. The Treasury grant is for $10 million.
- The other top priority on Muller’s agenda is solving Ebeye’s internet situation. Earlier this year, the fiber cable linking Ebeye to the outside world was cut and all communications went off except for those who had Starlink.
In the months that followed, NTA discovered that due to the age of the Ebeye-to-Kwajalein cable made it impossible to locate vendors who could provide the same cable for repairs.
NTA decided the entire three-mile-long cable needs to be replaced, said Muller. But the approximately $5 million price tag to do this is the current hurdle as NTA looks for funding, she said.
In the meantime, NTA is using Starlink to provide services on Ebeye. “I don’t see Starlink as competition,” she said. “It is complementing us.”
Another project in the pipeline that could further connect RMI to the world is a Google-inspired cable in the Pacific. It is linking islands in the South Pacific, including French Polynesia and Fiji, and NTA is looking at the options for connecting with this cable, though the cost of the service is high, she said.