Hawaii Pacific Teleport said the joint-marketing agreement allows the companies to offer services in an area stretching from the Northern Mariana Islands to French Polynesia.

Vince Waterson, Hawaii Pacific Teleport vice president of business development, said the service is made possible through the use of a powerful General Electric satellite that was previously used by Boeing to provide Internet service on trans-Pacific flights. Using the high power satellite means subscribers to the services will only need a dish that's about 4 feet across.

Hawaii Pacific Teleport, which operates a dish facility near Kapolei, said the service will start at a few hundred dollars a month, or less than what Waterson said was charged for telecommunications provided by the Inmarsat satellite.

It expects businesses, non-governmental organizations and wealthy homeowners will be attracted to the service.

Waterson said there is a possibility the company will offer some U.S. television services to the islands and that it may seek additional satellite capacity to offer a similar array of services that could be received in remote Hawai'i locations.