Speedcast to Improve Connectivity to Outer Cook Islands

Bluesky Cook Islands antennas. Photo: Bluesky

Speedcast International revealed that it will replace the Cook Islands’ existing international hub termination service with a new domestic hub for data, voice, domestic terrestrial television distribution, and cellular backhaul. The hub replacement aims to improve connectivity services for residents of the Cook Islands’ remote outer islands. Speedcast will deliver the service with Bluesky, a primary provider of telecommunications services in the Cook Islands.

The Cook Islands is comprised of 15 individual islands spread over approximately 91 square miles in the South Pacific. With a new Newtec Dialog hub solution by Speedcast, Cook Islands residents on the outer islands should have improved capability to connect to friends, family, health services and businesses on the main island, Rarotonga, and to the rest of the world. The new hub will also lay the framework for future network services, such as new and expanded cellular services like 3G and 4G.

“Bluesky has a well-established relationship with Speedcast bringing innovative communications solutions to market over many years,” said Bluesky Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Rob McFadzien. “The solution offered by Speedcast and Newtec allows us to modernize our domestic satellite network and extend our existing Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) service to the islands whilst providing excellent space segment efficiencies. With this upgraded network we are laying the foundation for deploying updated services to the islands.”