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TeleCulture Is Booming Too

Written by Pio Sioa
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
The booming growth in the reaches of telecommunication is indeed impressive for Samoa. When the PM reeled off the extent of the national coverage and user count for mobile phones, television and radio, the figures were quite stunning. The industry has been quite busy these past 5 years to boast the increases the PM dished out to the participants of the regional ‘Pacific Telecommunications Conference’ yesterday. Telephone subscribers jumping from 12,500 in 2002 to 101,400 at the end of 2007 works out to just under 18,000 subscribers a year for 5 years. Much of that has to credit the developments in SamoaTel and of course the entry of Digicel in competition with the local corporation. Perhaps the PM would be forgiven if he appeared boastful at the speed of the industry’s growth these past few years, and to the extent of forcing down the cost of overseas phone calls from Samoa from $2.75 per minute to under $1. On going developments in telecommunications will continue to impact strongly across the board for the communications sector. The planned hookup to a sub-marine internet cable link next year is obviously going to bring about an added round of new marvels to further benefit the country’s development effort. The benefits of the changes in place are already fostering wholesale changes that are more visible in what maybe termed the cellphone culture. Almost anyone who is old enough to use a cellphone is in possession of one, from the kids going to school right up to the old folks in the rural villages. Part of the popularity factor goes back to the phone companies practically giving cell phones away. Before SamoaTel and Digicel came along, Telecom Cellular, the offspring company Telecom New Zealand set up in Samoa under a 10 year monopoly deal, made a killing out of the sale of cheap cell phones….some of them refurbished throw aways from New Zealand. Now that a fattened Telecom Cellular has been reeled back into the welcoming arms of mother Telecom New Zealand, the ensuing competition between the two main local operators has brought the prices down. Cell phones are now practically every where. Whether it is good or not to have all these gadgets floating around would probably depend on an individual’s interpretation. So too is having more access to television and radio. All seems to be doing good so far. The real beneficiaries of the incoming changes are the new generation born into this rapidly changing world of technology. The young ones seem to have a knack for handling the intricate systems that comes with the new gadgetries. They are also responsible for creating a whole new language set that is influenced by texting phone messages to each other to save credit. But then of course language is dynamic and the modern age of telecommunications is certainly ushering in a new and overpowering blast of dynamism. Any adult who tries to reason these new changes with the young generation will probably get an lmao response, quoting the language of the young people these days. …and that is teleculture for you old timers…lol. Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Write comment Name Email Title Comment
Last Updated ( Friday, 18 July 2008 )

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