BYTE MARKS
Internet options few, costly in Fiji

By Burt Lum

"Bula, my friend! Where you from?"

This is the greeting you will hear repeatedly from the street merchants in Fiji.

It is the opening line to draw you into a street culture that is uniquely Fijian. The merchants have a sharp eye trained on the unsuspecting tourist, and any method to get them to enter their shop or booth is fair game. You proceed at your own risk, but it is well worth the adventure.

My last trip to Fiji was almost a year ago, and not much has changed. The open market in downtown Suva is still packed with farmers selling their produce.

The streets are crowded with shoppers as Fiji continues to appeal to the Australian, European and Japanese traveler. If anything has changed, it's the number of tourists.

Signs of the 2000 coup are waning as the country gears up to host the South Pacific Games (spg2003.com), expected to draw about 10,000 visitors to Suva between now and July 12.

I was there to conduct Internet workshops. What hasn't changed much is the availability of Internet access.

A year ago, there was talk about establishing ISPs independent of the government. Today, the government has issued licenses to eight potential ISPs, but none has opened for business. The only ISP is Connect (www.connect.com.fj), an affiliate of Fintel, the long-distance carrier and gatekeeper for Southern Cross fiber optics in Fiji.

Where we are accustomed to affordable broadband access, residential customers in Fiji are limited to dialup. Eight hours of access a day priced out at more than 800 Fijian dollars a month. At yesterday's exchange rate, that's $426.80, so we're talking about extremely expensive dialup access.

These challenges extend to business. I've noticed a trend for several businesses in Fiji to use U.S.-based web hosting. Key Web sites include the Fiji Visitor Bureau at bulafiji.com, Air Pacific Airlines at www.airpacific.com, and Review, a news publisher, at fijilive.com, among others.

Suffice it to say, as the rest of the world progresses, the limited Internet options for the average Fijian only widen the digital divide. ;-)

Reach Burt Lum at burt@brouhaha.net.