Telecom Services Kiribati Limited – Satellite Network/ISP

"We were very excited by what we saw at the awards ceremonies in Hawaii. The solution SSi Micro deployed in Nunavut was exactly what we needed for our country and we were very happy that Mr. Philipp and his team agreed to work with us to design a similar solution for Kiribati."

Baraniko Tonganibeia
CEO
TSKL

Republic of Kiribati

In 2005 while attending the Wireless Communications Association (WCA) awards ceremony in Hawaii, SSi was asked to speak about their award winning Qiniq Network. The Qiniq network had won in the category of “Provisioning Underserved Communities with NLOS Broadband Wireless Technology”. During a break, the president of SSI was approached by Telecom Services Kiribati Limited (TSKL) about building such a network in their country. After much discussion it was agreed upon and Coconut Wireless was born.

SSi supplied a turn-key ISP system to TSKL, which included: on site deployment of satellite and wireless equipment, hands on training and network management and support. TSKL utilizes ARIA, SSI’s billing provisioning system to manage their ISP services. Services were installed in the three largest centers, Betio, Bairiki, and Bikenibeu with plans to expand the network to some of the outer islands in the future

Logistics and travel posed several difficulties, with limited flights in and out of the country (via Fiji.) Our technicians had to work on a tight schedule, but certainly enjoyed working in such a beautiful environment. Embargos and delays with cargo was common place, but planned for.

The Republic of Kiribati is an island nation located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean straddling the equator. Kiribati is comprised of 33 atolls dispersed over 3,500,000 square kilometers. TSKL’s mandate is to provide reliable communications to all of their inhabited islands.