Congratulations to Vodafone Samoa for getting the half-a-million Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting contract. The company will also spend nearly $20 million on improving its infrastructure.

It is warming to know that the 6000 guests who will be here in October will have no issues with their internet. They will have high-speed and uninterrupted access to free internet.

On the contrary, some people will have their internet connections cut off on 21 August. These are the Starlink customers who after authority from the Office of the Regulator imported their gear, some did it even before Starlink was an issue and used the better-quality internet.

Most being law-abiding citizens, paid the regulator the standard fees set out by the OOTR and continued to use Starlink on roaming. Starlink wants this practice to stop because they do not have a license to operate in Samoa and the roaming option is temporary. Starlink cannot provide service here because they do not have a license..

This situation is similar to Tonga. Starlink was deactivated by the Tongan government because the company did not have a license. Last month, the Tongan government granted a provisional temporary permit to Starlink to operate for six months.

Almost a third of Tonga's population was cut off from the internet for more than a fortnight after a suspected quake late last month disrupted the service to two outlying islands popular with tourists. The government had also deactivated Starlink, saying it had no license to operate in the country.

Tongans had started a petition, calling on the government to allow access to Starlink internet services.

Just like Samoa, Tongans, especially in the outer islands, used the Starlink global satellite network service, mostly via roaming subscriptions registered in other countries, as a lifeline during ongoing cable outage.

In a statement, Tonga's Ministry of Meteorology, Energy, Information, Disaster Management, Environment, Climate Change and Communications (MEIDECC) said the decision was in response to a "significant amount" of public concern.

The ministry said the temporary permit includes several conditions to ensure compliance with government regulations, as well as aid the disruption of the domestic fibre optic cable to Vava'u and Ha'apai islands.

One of the conditions of the permit is that Starlink Pacific Islands LLC is required to facilitate local payment methods for businesses in Tonga and to provide details of the terminals used in Tonga.

The company must also ensure it satisfies all tax obligations and is expected to facilitate local payment methods for businesses in Tonga.

If Tonga can solve their situation, we should be able to do so as well. The Regulator highlighted her concerns about payment methods, this was also the situation for Starlink. We also know that Starlink has a local partner called Bluewave.

The local partners can be an avenue of facilitating payments or deals can be struck with a local bank to facilitate the payments from the local community who do not have internet access. The ones to suffer the most are local businesses.

They have paid more money to use Starlink, which for them has proven to be way cheaper. The local telecommunication service providers have their hands tied behind their backs so their prices reflect the high cost of operations.

Companies like Digicel and Vodafone are paying exorbitant fees for the connection to the cable and then they have to deal with high electricity prices. Electricity is used by these companies 24 hours a day to keep their towers going.

There is a solution where requirements from all ends can be met. Starlink will get a temporary license, the Regulator will get to set conditions for the temporary license and Starlink users will continue to use cheaper and faster internet.

Will the OOTR see this as a solution or force an impasse that will leave many users without the internet? Internet is deemed a necessity now for business, commerce, education, entertainment, and even for government to carry out its role.

Let us hope the remedy to the Starlink situation is found before 21 August. Have a blessed Sunday.