Tonga – March 17, 1998 – The King of Tonga was given the honor of making the first phone call from the island of Niua Fo’ou, the most remote of the 37 populated islands in the 170 island kingdom.
For many years the island was known as Tin Can Island in reference to the island¿s unique postal system where tin cans containing the mail were thrown overboard by passing ships. The tin cans were collected by the island¿s strongest swimmers who swam out to meet the passing boats.
Legend has it that the tin can mail express was finally stopped in 1954 when one too many swimmers were eaten by sharks. However, around this time a harbour was built making more traditional sea mail possible, while being further supplemented by telex.
Using an NEC Australia supplied Intelsat earth station system, King Taufu’ahau Tupou made his first call to Niuatopatapu, another remote Tongan island set to benefit from the new Intelsat system.
The $4 million satellite system known as DOMSAT will link the five major island groups of Tonga and consists of five Intelsat F-3 Standard Earth stations capable of providing voice, fax and data services.
DOMSAT will replace the existing telex system on Niua Fo’ou that still uses Morse Code and high frequency (HF) radio telex services, and will be the first telephone service on the island.
Nearly 70 phones have already been installed on Niua Fo’ou, making the telephone penetration rate for households on the island close to 50%, one of the highest rates for anywhere in the Kingdom.
