Telecommunications in American Samoa

Communication services in American Samoa are diversified among telephony, radio broadcasting, television, and Internet services.

Telephone

Membership: North American Numbering Plan (NANP)

  • Land lines in use: 10,400 (2004); country comparison to the world: 202
  • Mobile cellular subscribers: 2,200 (2004); country comparison to the world: 210
  • domestic services: telex, telegraph, facsimile and cellular telephone services; domestic satellite system with one Comsat earth station
  • international services: satellite earth station – Intelsat (Pacific Ocean)'
  • Country code: 1
  • NANP area code: 684
  • International telephone number format: +1 684 NXX-XXXX (N=2–9, X=0–9)
  • international access code: 011

Radio

Radio broadcast stations: AM 0, FM 4 commercial, 4 non-commercial, 2 LPFM, shortwave 0 (2005)

Radios: 57,000 (1997)

Television
See also: List of television stations in American Samoa

Television broadcast stations: 4 (2006) Televisions: 14,000 (1997)

Internet

In 2009, American Samoa was connected to the Internet using the American Samoa Hawaii Cable (ASH) undersea communications cable that increased bandwidth from 20 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s.[1][2] The project used a defunct PacRim East cable built in 1993 that previously connected Hawaii with New Zealand. The cable system now connects Samoa to American Samoa and then to Hawaii where it will connect to global submarine networks. In July 2018, the Hawaiki cable[3] was activated[4] with a branch providing a 200Gb/s[5] connection from Pago Pago to Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, and Oregon.

Situation in 2016

In 2012, American Samoa had the most expensive Internet access service in the U.S. according to Engadget.[6]

Under Governor Togiola Tulafono investment in a fibre optic network to replace aging copper infrastructure across all the islands of American Samoa[7] and the construction in 2015 of a 1.2Gbit/s satellite uplink via O3b Networks which more than doubled available bandwidth to the rest of the world[8] resulted in broadband Internet service becoming more affordable, with the price of the cheapest available residential package decreasing from $75/month to $50/month and download speeds of the base package increasing from 256kbit/s to 768kbit/s.[9] The improved connectivity to the outside world has revived previously stalled hopes that a call center could be opened in American Samoa, boosting the local economy.[10]


Internet service providers (ISPs)three ?[11]
Internet country code.as
Internet Hosts1,923 (2008)
country rank in the world: 141
Internet usersNA

Aleki Sene, Sr. Telecommunications Center

The Aleki Sene, Sr. Telecommunications Center[12] in Tafuna is the tallest building in American Samoa (it is 4 stories tall). Construction of the building began in 2009 and ended in 2011.[13] Out of the tallest buildings of each U.S. state and territory, the Aleki Sene, Sr. Telecommunications Center is the shortest.

References
  1. "iTWire - Samoans one step closer to broadband". www.itwire.com. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
  2. eLandia. "eLandia and American Samoa Inaugurate Submarine Cable". Retrieved 21 December 2017.
  3. "Hawaiki Cable Network". Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  4. "Samoa News - Hawaiki cable now live, promising faster, more reliable internet service". Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  5. "Hawaiki Transpacific Cable Completes Final Landing at American Samoa" (PDF). Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  6. "The most expensive internet in America: fighting to bring affordable broadband to American Samoa". Engadget. 2012. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
  7. "AMERICAN SAMOA FIBER OPTIC NETWORK". Underground Construction. Oildom Publishing Company of Texas, Inc. December 2015. Archived from the original on 2016-12-22. Retrieved 2016-12-22.
  8. "American Samoa Telecommunications Authority (ASTCA) Goes Live with O3b Networks, Significantly Improves Broadband-based Services to Territory Residents". O3b Networks. 2015-06-15. Archived from the original on 2016-12-22. Retrieved 2016-12-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  9. "Internet - ASTCA". 10 November 2015. Archived from the original on 10 November 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  10. "Economic Development plan revives hope for call center". Osini Faleatasi Inc. 2015-02-15. Retrieved 2016-12-22.
  11. ASTCA - Samoatelco , BlueSky Communications , Pacifica IT Archived 2007-08-22 at the Wayback Machine
  12. Miller, Monica (August 2017). "American Samoa Telecommunications Authority". RNZ. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  13. http://www.sraa.co.nz/Projects/Commercial/ASTCA+Telecommunications+Building.html "ASTCA Telecommunications building - Swan Railley Architects". Retrieved September 4, 2019.


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