Digicel customers can expect to have full access and higher speed internet by the end of June.

This is according to Digicel’s Chief Executive Officer, Farid Mohammed.

He says there are still some upgrades that their network has to go through until Samoans can fully experience the promise of higher speed and wider coverage with the Tui Samoa Cable.

“There are stages we need to get through and gates we need to pass and we are probably at the final gate now. Our timelines are towards the end of June,” said Mr. Mohammed. 

“In terms of getting a service, it’s not just on one component, you got to have the phone, you got to have the tower and you got to have a connection before you get to the Tui Samoa Cable.”

There are many factors that customers need to be aware of and that people may need to upgrade their phones in order to enjoy the full benefits of the Tui Samoa Cable. The Digicel C.E.O. explains that their staff is working overtime to make their deadline.

“With phones, yes we are doing deals for the customer. We just launched a $99 Fuji handset for customers. The towers are now complete, we are trying to work on the phone network, once that’s upgraded the customers will have full access to Tui Samoa Cable so at the moment, some things we can’t just expedite because we have not reached a level that we need to maintain so we need to work during off hours, nights to get those upgrades completed.

“High speed depends, if you don’t have the right devices, you’re not going to have the right high speed either. It all varies from time of the day, devices, where you are, there are a lot of factors that come into play and you might be sitting in your own best one late at night and you might be getting absolutely smashing speeds but that’s because you are the only one using that facility because everyone has gone home.”

According to Mr. Mohammed, Digicel has just finished upgrading Savai’i’s network last week and that the big island now has better internet service. 

“If you’ve recently been to Savai’i, we have just finished upgrading and there are maybe one or two areas we are still working on but otherwise you now have 4G throughout 80 percent of Savai’i now. 

“The towers there have been upgraded, there are certain areas which we are working with the regulator in terms of very deep coverage where there’s pockets of population which we need to cover for – they are the final pieces we need to cover but if you’re generally going around Savai’i, we’ve updated the regulator last week and the coverage is definitely improved.”