Perhaps you’re among those who think Hawaiian Islands are just for honeymooners. But while some of the Pacific Islands communities are as relaxed as they look in the movies, communication service providers are busy modernizing their networks, bringing IP services to subscribers and improving communications.

 

Maui Sanford, president of the Pacific Islands Telecommunications Association, a non-profit organization representing the interests of small island nations in the Pacific Region, is heading a team from OPT French Polynesia during the Honolulu PITA and PTC events. The purpose is to promote major improvements in transpacific telecommunications illustrated by HONOTUA, a $110 million undersea fiber optic program linking French Polynesia to the west coast of the United States and to Australia and New Zealand’s Southern Cross Cable System.

 

Back home with OPT French Polynesia, Sanford is busy modernizing the local and national networks with a Metaswitch Networks solution that will bring new services throughout the islands.

 

“We wanted a scalable, flexible system with services that will evolve as the network changes over time,” said Sanford.

 

Another leader in the Asia Pacific region -- Benjamin “Bing” Garcia, president and COO of Marbel Telephone Systems in General Santos, Philippines and active member of PAPTELCO, a 48-member advocacy group of private Philippine telephone companies – is also toiling away, with a little help from Metaswitch.

 

Initially established as an ILEC serving southern Mindanao, the company recently bought a Metaswitch VP2510 to power its new CLEC business that will expand the company’s serving area to a neighboring province and also add IPTV (News - Alert) to the portfolio of Marbel Telephone down the road.

 

For MCV Broadband in Guam, the pace picked up with the arrival of Craig Thompson, CEO and president. In a few short years brought current, quality broadcasting to MCV subscribers and a competitively priced quadruple play of cable TV, Internet, wireline and wireless services. Serving more than 50,000 subscribers on four islands, in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, the company is transitioning from wholesale voice services to its own facility-based services using a Metaswitch VoIP application and infrastructure solution.

 

“In-region support, exceptional references and a right-size solution led us to Metaswitch,” said Thompson.

 

In Hawaii, two successful operators recently combined to form Hawaii Dialogix Telecom, providing traditional, hosted PBX (News - Alert) and triple play services to business and MDU customers. Having deployed a Metaswitch VP2510 in 2008, the company plans to add a second system for expansion later this year. Key to selecting Metaswitch was the exceptional cost saving in cooling and energy conservation.

 

“These operators are truly leaders within the region,” said Jeff Lattomus, area vice president for Metaswitch. “They are committed to keeping pace with technology advances, bringing benefits to their communities, and serving as great examples of what Metaswitch is starting to achieve throughout Asia.”