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From Satellite Struggles to Starlink: Inside Solomon Islands’ Internet Access Revolution

From Satellite Struggles to Starlink: Inside Solomon Islands’ Internet Access Revolution

From Satellite Struggles to Starlink: Inside Solomon Islands’ Internet Access Revolution

Overview of Internet Access in the Solomon Islands

The Solomon Islands – an archipelago of some 15 large islands and hundreds of smaller isles – faces unique challenges in connecting its scattered population of ~700,000 to the internet apnic.foundation. Until recently, the country relied almost entirely on expensive, low-bandwidth satellite links for global connectivity, resulting in very poor internet service by world standards apnic.foundation. Broadband infrastructure was virtually nonexistent outside the capital; affordable high-speed internet was mainly limited to Honiara and a few towns apnic.foundation. Fixed broadband subscriptions remain rare and largely confined to government offices, corporations, and universities budde.com.au.

Mobile networks have become the primary way Solomon Islanders access the internet. Mobile phone uptake has grown since 3G service first launched in 2010, and today cellular connections equal about 72% of the population (over 537,000 mobile subscriptions in early 2024) datareportal.com. However, many people carry multiple SIMs, and actual unique user penetration is lower – roughly 45% of the population were using the internet as of January 2024 datareportal.com datareportal.com. (By other estimates that focus on regular access, usage was closer to 23% in 2025 solomonstarnews.com, underscoring that more than half of citizens remain offline.) Most internet users get online via mobile data on 3G networks, with limited 4G/LTE coverage mainly in Honiara since 2017 budde.com.au budde.com.au. In outlying villages, 2G GSM is often still the only available signal budde.com.au.

Satellite services historically formed the backbone of both international and rural connectivity. Until a major undersea cable came online in 2019, all overseas internet traffic had to bounce off satellites – a costly and high-latency setup that constrained speeds and kept prices high apnic.foundation gihub.org. Even today, satellite links continue to play a vital role in reaching remote islands beyond the reach of fiber or cell towers. In short, internet access in the Solomon Islands is a story of gradual improvement: from a starting point of patchy, dial-up-speed satellite connections, the country is now experiencing faster and more affordable service in urban areas, while working to extend those gains to rural communities.

Major Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Offerings

Despite its small market size, the Solomon Islands has a competitive telecom sector featuring three main internet providers budde.com.au:

  • Solomon Telekom Company Limited (STCL) – Branded as Our Telekom, this is the former state-owned incumbent and remains the largest provider. STCL operates the nationwide telephone infrastructure and the dominant mobile network (marketed under the name Breeze). It offers 2G/3G/4G mobile services, fixed-line telephone, and limited fixed broadband (ADSL and fiber) in Honiara and select areas. Our Telekom’s mobile network covers all provinces with voice and basic data, though high-speed 4G is mostly confined to urban centers budde.com.au. The company has been upgrading its network recently, launching LTE in the capital and planning further expansions budde.com.au. Our Telekom also provides Wi-Fi hotspot services and ICT solutions. In remote regions, STCL uses satellite backhaul to connect cell sites (in partnership with Intelsat), striving to “ensure all Solomon Islanders have access to fast internet service, even in remote locations” telecoms.com.
  • Bmobile-Vodafone – The second mobile operator, Bmobile, entered the market in 2010 to break Telekom’s monopoly. It later partnered with Vodafone and now trades as Bmobile-Vodafone. Bmobile offers mobile voice and 3G/4G data in competition with Our Telekom, focusing on Honiara and other population centers. Its coverage footprint is somewhat smaller than Telekom’s, but it has aimed to grow. Bmobile’s offerings include prepaid mobile plans and wireless broadband for homes. As a smaller player, Bmobile has innovated through partnerships – for example, it inked a deal with Lynk Global in 2023 to eventually provide direct-to-handset satellite connectivity, so that subscribers in areas without towers could still get basic service via satellite budde.com.au. (This satellite mobile service would allow ordinary cell phones to send/receive signals from low-earth-orbit satellites as a fallback where no terrestrial network is available.)
  • SATSOL (Satellite Solutions) – A local ISP specializing in broadband internet via satellite and wireless. SATSOL is known for delivering high-speed VSAT connections to businesses, government agencies, and NGOs, and for pioneering internet access in outer islands. It offers a range of plans from prepaid home internet to dedicated enterprise links. With the slogan “Connecting you is what we do,” SATSOL provides services such as: shared VSAT broadband plans (up to ~16 Mbps) for customers in rural villages, schools, and clinics outside of mobile coverage satsol.net; urban wireless broadband links for homes and offices in Honiara; and public Wi-Fi hotspots around town satsol.net. Notably, SATSOL has become the local partner for Starlink – helping distribute SpaceX’s satellite internet service in Solomon Islands satsol.net satsol.net. As an ISP with deep roots in remote connectivity, SATSOL often works closely with government and aid projects (for example, maintaining provincial government networks as a public-private partner apnic.foundation) to expand internet reach beyond the capital.

These three ISPs form the core of the Solomon Islands’ internet ecosystem budde.com.au. Their offerings reflect the country’s topography: heavy emphasis on wireless and satellite solutions, prepaid mobile data for the majority of users, and premium dedicated broadband available at high cost for institutions. Other niche providers are minimal – there is no Digicel in Solomon Islands (unlike in some neighbors), and the market is relatively small, so new entrants have been limited. Competition between Our Telekom and Bmobile has helped drive mobile usage up and prices down somewhat in recent years, but internet access remains far from universally affordable or available.

The Role of Satellite Internet – from VSAT to Starlink

Given the Solomon Islands’ dispersed geography, satellite internet has always been a lifeline. Dozens of far-flung island communities that lack undersea cables or microwave links depend on satellites to connect to the world. Over time, the country has seen a progression of satellite technologies, each improving capacity and latency:

  • Geostationary Satellites: For many years, Solomon Islands relied on traditional GEO satellites (such as Intelsat beams) for all international and rural connectivity. Bandwidth was limited and extremely costly – prior to 2019, a single megabit of international bandwidth could cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. Latency over GEO links (35,000 km altitude) was 600+ milliseconds, making real-time applications difficult gihub.org gihub.org. Still, VSAT terminals were (and remain) the only option for many outer islands. Government agencies, banks, and missions set up VSATs to get basic internet, and Our Telekom used satellite backhaul to extend its 2G/3G network to remote cell towers. This scenario started to change with newer satellite systems and the introduction of fiber, but GEO satellites are still in use as backup. In fact, after the undersea cable went live, local telcos kept satellites mainly as redundancy for international traffic budde.com.au – a prudent strategy in case the fiber cable is ever disrupted.
  • O3b (Medium Earth Orbit) and Kacific: In the mid-2010s, Solomon Telekom was among early adopters of O3b, a constellation of MEO satellites orbiting at 8,000 km. O3b’s lower orbit reduced latency to ~150 ms and delivered higher throughputs, greatly improving the quality of mobile data in Honiara. In 2014, STCL installed O3b ground stations to augment its backhaul, which helped support the launch of the first 4G/LTE services in 2017 satellitetoday.com. Later, in late 2019, the Kacific-1 high-throughput satellite was launched, aimed at the Pacific region. Solomon Islands benefited from Kacific’s spot beams that deliver affordable Ka-band broadband. Solomon Telekom signed on to use Kacific capacity, and SATSOL also leveraged Kacific for rural VSAT offerings budde.com.au. This injection of satellite bandwidth in 2020 came just as the undersea cable arrived, creating a far better connectivity outlook. High-throughput satellites (HTS) like Kacific now provide faster speeds and cheaper data plans in remote areas compared to older satellites apnic.foundation. However, even these services face practical barriers on the ground – remote villages often lack electricity for the terminals and means to pay for service, since many residents have irregular income and no banking access apnic.foundation. Solving power and affordability issues (for example, via solar-powered kits and community wifi hubs) is key to fully utilizing satellite internet in rural Solomon Islands.
  • Starlink (Low Earth Orbit): The latest game-changer is SpaceX’s Starlink, a LEO satellite network now providing coverage across Solomon Islands. After two years of talks, Starlink received a local license in mid-2024 solomonstarnews.com developingtelecoms.com. Prior to that, some eager users had gotten Starlink kits via neighboring countries and used them illicitly on roaming, as they were frustrated by expensive or unavailable local internet developingtelecoms.com. The regulator (TCSI) temporarily disallowed roaming use until proper licensing, but as of September 2024 Starlink is officially “available nationwide”, as Elon Musk confirmed in a tweet solomonstarnews.com. Starlink’s entry marks the first time ordinary Solomon Islanders can access high-speed, uncapped internet virtually anywhere in the country – a potential revolution for connectivity. The hardware kit costs around SBD 3,000 (roughly US$375) with monthly service about SBD 424 (~US$53) solomonstarnews.com. These prices, while steep by global standards, are a dramatic drop from earlier in 2024 when unofficial Starlink units cost SBD 7,000 plus SBD 1,000 per month solomonstarnews.com. Local ISPs like SATSOL have partnered as resellers to help distribute Starlink, and many businesses and families reportedly “can’t wait to sign up” at the new lower pricing solomonstarnews.com. Starlink’s appeal is its speed (50–150 Mbps) and coverage – it can connect a remote island or ship at sea as easily as downtown Honiara. The Solomon Islands government acknowledges Starlink and similar LEO services as complementary to existing networks, and expects them to “make internet services more affordable” while also extending reach developingtelecoms.com. Incumbent telcos were initially wary of Starlink’s disruptive potential, but the regulator noted there may be reseller opportunities for those operators to integrate Starlink into their offerings developingtelecoms.com.

Satellite connectivity thus remains essential, especially for the roughly 75% of Solomon Islanders living in rural areas with limited other infrastructure solomonstarnews.com. Initiatives are underway to combine satellite links with community Wi-Fi and solar power – for example, a locally developed “Data Garden” project demonstrated a solar-powered VSAT hub with a digital payment kiosk to serve village needs apnic.foundation apnic.foundation. And in 2025, Intelsat and Our Telekom announced a partnership to use the new Horizons-3e satellite to backhaul 4G service to 50+ remote communities, effectively bringing those villages online with quality comparable to towns capacitymedia.com capacitymedia.com. According to Solomon Telekom’s CEO, this allows outer-island residents to access “mobile broadband, e-financial services and many other applications” for the first time. In short, satellites – from geostationary to low-earth orbit – are the connective tissue knitting together an island nation where terrestrial links are impractical. As technology advances, satellite internet is shifting from being the last resort to a viable, and even preferable, solution for connecting remote Solomon Islanders.

Infrastructure Challenges: Geography, Dispersion, and Technology Gaps

Providing equitable internet access across the Solomon Islands is a daunting task due to the country’s geography and economic constraints. Key infrastructure challenges include:

  • Island Geography and Dispersion: The Solomons consist of numerous islands spread over 1.35 million km² of ocean. Many villages are isolated by water and reachable only by boat. This makes it extremely costly to extend physical infrastructure like fiber-optic cables or even power lines between islands apnic.foundation. Unlike a contiguous landmass, the islands can’t be connected in one sweep; each link (undersea cable, microwave hop, etc.) is a major project. The population is also scattered – while the capital island (Guadalcanal) and a few others have sizable populations, hundreds of smaller islands have only tiny communities. Serving these low-density areas does not offer quick returns on investment for telcos, leading to a persistent urban-rural digital divide solomonstarnews.com. As of 2024, about 73.8% of the population lives in rural areas (often with no internet), while 26.2% are in urban centers (mostly Honiara) where connectivity options are far better datareportal.com.
  • Difficult Terrain and Environment: Even on the larger islands, the interior terrain (rugged mountains, dense forests, and lack of roads) complicates tower construction and cable laying. Laying fiber overland is challenging due to rivers, swamps, and geological instability in some areas. The tropical climate (heavy rains, cyclones, high humidity) can damage equipment and disrupt networks. Remote sites need cyclone-proof towers and backup power for reliability. Additionally, Solomon Islands is part of the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” so seismic activity poses a risk to undersea cables and terrestrial lines alike.
  • Electrical Power and Backhaul: A less obvious but critical limitation in rural connectivity is the lack of electricity infrastructure. Outside a few towns, there is no national power grid; communities rely on diesel generators or solar panels. This means any telecom tower or satellite terminal has to be self-powered (usually with solar + battery setups) apnic.foundation. Maintaining diesel generators on remote islands is logistically difficult and costly. Power constraints limit the kind of equipment that can be deployed – low-power, solar-friendly tech is needed, which can be lower capacity. Moreover, getting data backhaul to rural towers requires either microwave relays (line-of-sight issues in mountainous islands) or satellites (with bandwidth cost and latency considerations). Each village essentially needs a bespoke solution, often involving VSAT backhaul and solar power – an expensive proposition to do at scale.
  • Land Ownership and Right-of-Way: Social factors like land tenure disputes also hinder infrastructure roll-out budde.com.au. Land in Solomon Islands is mostly customary-owned, and securing permission to build towers or lay cable can involve protracted negotiations with local landowners. There have been cases where planned rural tower sites were delayed or relocated due to unresolved land issues budde.com.au. The process of surveying and community consultation can significantly slow down deployments, especially for a project spanning dozens of islands and cultural groups.
  • Limited ICT Skills and Maintenance Capacity: Technical expertise and spare parts are hard to come by in the provinces. The country has a shortage of telecom engineers relative to the need, and most are based in Honiara. Keeping remote network equipment operational is a challenge – if a VSAT in an outer island school breaks, it might be down for months awaiting a technician visit or replacement part from overseas. This reliability issue makes some villages skeptical of investing in internet tech that might not be sustainable without local support. Training local operators and building maintenance capacity is part of current development programs to ensure infrastructure, once installed, can be kept running.

All these factors contribute to low internet and broadband penetration in rural Solomon Islands budde.com.au. While nearly every family has a mobile phone or at least access to one, that does not guarantee internet – many use phones only for basic SMS and voice because data service is unavailable or unaffordable in their area adb.org. The government’s 2015 National ICT Policy and the National Development Strategy 2016–2035 both recognize that major investment is needed in telecommunications infrastructure to overcome these barriers theislandsun.com.sb. Improving connectivity is seen as vital for nation-building, but the challenges are profound: an expensive undersea cable now brings “abundant bandwidth” to the country, yet “many rural villages remain out of reach” of that fiber-based connectivity apnic.foundation. Bridging that last-mile (or last-100-mile) gap from cable landing stations to remote communities is the central challenge for the next phase of Solomon Islands’ internet growth.

Government Initiatives, International Aid, and Public-Private Efforts

Expanding internet access has become a national priority, and the Solomon Islands government, along with international partners, has launched several initiatives to improve connectivity:

  • Coral Sea Cable & Domestic Network: The flagship project is the Coral Sea Cable System, a 4,700 km submarine fiber-optic cable linking Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea to Australia’s internet hub in Sydney gihub.org. Completed in late 2019, this AUD$200 million project was 75% funded by Australia (as part of its Pacific Step-up program) with the Solomons and PNG splitting the remainder gihub.org. The cable delivers up to 20 Tbps of capacity to Solomon Islands (initially lit at 200 Gbps) gihub.org, a transformational leap from the tiny satellite bandwidth before. In tandem, a Solomon Islands Domestic Network (SIDN) was built – 730 km of undersea fiber linking the capital Honiara with three other provincial centers: Auki (Malaita), Noro (Western Province), and Taro (Choiseul) gihub.org. This effectively extended high-capacity fiber backbone to some of the most populous islands. The Australian government’s grant-based financing ensured the country did not incur heavy debt for this infrastructure. Since the Coral Sea cable went live, internet users in Honiara and those provincial capitals have seen “ten times the data for the same price” and much higher speeds than before apnic.foundation. This project truly “connected Solomon Islands to the world”, ending its isolation and dramatically lowering wholesale internet costs. The Solomon Islands Submarine Cable Company (SISCC), a state-owned enterprise, was established to own and operate these cables in partnership with Australia’s Vocus Communications gihub.org.
  • Rural Mobile Tower Programs: Recognizing that the fiber backbone only solves part of the problem, the government has pursued programs to extend the mobile network into underserved areas. In 2021, Australia provided a grant of AUD $6.5 million (SBD 37.6 million) to fund six new telecom towers in remote provinces ourtelekom.com.sb. These 50-meter towers, delivered in late 2022, were installed in border and outlying locations – including three sites in the far-flung Shortland Islands (near the PNG border), one in North West Choiseul, one in Kia (Isabel Province), and one in the remote Pelau atoll of Malaita Outer Islands ourtelekom.com.sb. The aim was both to improve communications for villagers and to enhance border security and disaster response in those strategic areas ourtelekom.com.sb. The towers, equipped for 3G/4G, came online by mid-2023, and immediately brought mobile coverage (and basic mobile data) to thousands of people who previously had none. This Australia-Solomon Islands tower partnership was heralded by officials as a model of aid supporting connectivity and “empowering local communities by providing greater access to business opportunities, health and education services” in remote regions ourtelekom.com.sb.
  • National Broadband Infrastructure Project (SINBIP): In addition to grants, the Solomon Islands government has pursued a major project financed by China to rapidly scale up rural connectivity. In 2022, it secured a US$66 million concessional loan from China’s Exim Bank to fund the Solomon Islands National Broadband Infrastructure Project, which entails constructing 161 mobile towers across the country developingtelecoms.com. Chinese telecom vendor Huawei was contracted to supply and build these towers, under what the government called a “historical financial partnership” with Beijing developingtelecoms.com developingtelecoms.com. The goal is to reach the most isolated pockets with 3G/4G coverage. The rollout was initially ambitious – targeting 48% of the towers to be live by November 2023 in time to showcase connectivity during the Pacific Games hosted in Honiara developingtelecoms.com. Deployment proved slower than hoped (only about 20% done by late 2023 due to logistical and coordination delays) theislandsun.com.sb theislandsun.com.sb, but progress continues. As of mid-2025, 13 new SINBIP towers were operational on Guadalcanal and nearby islands, with Phase 2 extending coverage to Western Province and Choiseul, and Phase 3 starting to target additional provinces solomonstarnews.com. Ultimately, the project aims to provide mobile broadband coverage to over 80% of the population by 2026, bringing an additional ~200,000 Solomon Islanders online solomonstarnews.com. The government envisions that villagers will be able to use these networks for services like streaming the Pacific Games, accessing e-learning, and e-health consultations developingtelecoms.com. The SINBIP initiative is not without controversy – a review by independent consultants warned the towers might not generate enough revenue to repay the loan, potentially leaving a large subsidy gap datacenterdynamics.com. Nevertheless, the government has prioritized rural connectivity as critical infrastructure, aligning with national policy objectives to bridge the digital divide.
  • Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) and Universal Access: The Solomon Islands has also leveraged partnerships between government, local ISPs, and international donors to extend connectivity. One example is the PFnet (People First Network), a project initially launched with UN support in the early 2000s to set up email stations via HF radio in remote villages – it laid the groundwork for community-based connectivity and still operates some community telecenters solomonstarnews.com. Building on such efforts, the government’s Universal Access policy works with telecom operators to co-fund expansion into commercially unviable areas. SATSOL, as a private company, has partnered with government to maintain networks in all provinces apnic.foundation, and has been a recipient of grants (e.g., from the APNIC Foundation) to pilot innovative rural solutions like the Data Garden (which combines a satellite hotspot, solar power, and a digital payment system in a green box) apnic.foundation apnic.foundation. Through these PPPs, even small outer islands have seen Wi-Fi hotspots or village phone kiosks introduced. International organizations such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) have advised on regulatory reforms and provided funding for ICT capacity building budde.com.au. While much of the heavy construction (cables, towers) has been funded by Australia and China, other partners (Japan, New Zealand, EU, etc.) have contributed via training, equipment donations, and pilot programs. For instance, Japan helped establish a distance learning network for rural schools, and UNICEF supported connecting clinics to enable vaccine supply tracking. The Telecommunications Commission of Solomon Islands (TCSI), the regulator, plays a coordinating role in these efforts, ensuring new licenses (like Starlink’s) are in the public interest and negotiating things like spectrum and interconnection rules to facilitate expansion developingtelecoms.com developingtelecoms.com.

In summary, a combination of foreign aid, concessional loans, and collaborative projects is driving Solomon Islands’ connectivity forward. The government’s approach has been pragmatic – harnessing Australia’s aid for foundational infrastructure, embracing China’s financing for broad coverage, and engaging local and regional partners for last-mile innovations. This multifaceted strategy is slowly but surely transforming the telecommunications landscape, bringing internet access to places that had none. However, it also leaves Solomon Islands balancing relationships with multiple powers (Australia and China) in its pursuit of digital development budde.com.au datacenterdynamics.com. The success of these initiatives will be measured by how quickly and sustainably they can make internet accessible and affordable to the majority of Solomon Islanders, especially those in rural areas.

Internet Pricing, Speeds, and Accessibility – Urban vs. Rural

Cost and quality of service are major factors determining actual internet usage in Solomon Islands. Historically, internet access here has been both slow and extremely expensive – but the situation is gradually improving for urban users. Below is a look at current pricing, speeds, and the urban-rural gap:

  • Pricing: By global standards, Solomon Islanders pay a very high price for connectivity. A 2023 analysis found the country had the most expensive fixed broadband in the world, with an average monthly cost of about $458 USD for a standard plan worldpopulationreview.com worldpopulationreview.com. (This reflects the fact that fixed-line broadband is a premium service mostly used by institutions and often delivered via satellite or microwave.) Mobile data, while cheaper, still costs around $7 USD per 1GB on average – placing Solomons among the 10 most expensive countries for mobile data pricing ispreview.co.uk. For comparison, neighboring Fiji enjoys some of the cheapest data in the world at about $0.15 per 1GB trade.gov, thanks to multiple competing providers and better economies of scale. Even Papua New Guinea, with its larger population, has lower data costs (roughly $0.64 per GB according to some reports). The high price of internet in Solomons has been a key barrier to adoption, effectively excluding many low-income and rural citizens. However, there are signs of price relief: the Coral Sea cable brought wholesale bandwidth costs down dramatically, enabling ISPs to offer larger data caps and slightly lower rates than before apnic.foundation. For example, Telekom and Bmobile have introduced “unlimited night” data promotions and more affordable bundles for social media usage to entice new users. And as noted, Starlink’s arrival cut local satellite broadband prices by more than half in 2024 solomonstarnews.com. The regulator and government hope that greater competition (Starlink, a possible third mobile operator in the future, etc.) will further drive down prices. Still, in rural areas where the only option might be a pay-per-use satellite or cellular hotspot, internet can be prohibitively costly for ordinary villagers – some might spend SBD 20 ($2.50) for an hour of browsing at a community wifi point, a significant sum in an economy where many live subsistence lifestyles.
  • Speeds and Reliability: Internet speeds in Solomon Islands vary widely by location and technology. In Honiara and a few towns with fiber or 4G, users can experience broadband speeds of 10–30 Mbps in the best cases. Our Telekom has rolled out fiber-to-the-premises to some business districts and government offices in the capital, offering packages up to 50 Mbps (though these come at a premium price). Typical mobile 4G download speeds in Honiara might be 5–15 Mbps when the network is not congested. In contrast, 3G connections common in rural areas often deliver under 1 Mbps, which is just enough for basic web browsing or WhatsApp messages, but too slow for high-quality media streaming or large downloads. SATSOL’s residential satellite plans advertise up to ~16 Mbps down satsol.net, but real-world speeds can fluctuate due to contention and weather interference. Starlink users are reporting >50 Mbps speeds, introducing a new benchmark, although uptake is still limited. Reliability has generally improved since the introduction of the fiber cable – the country’s international link is no longer the bottleneck it once was, and latency for users on fiber or good 4G is much lower (around 60–100 ms to Australia) compared to the old 600 ms satellite pings. Power outages and network outages still occur, however. Honiara’s power grid can be unstable, causing ISP equipment downtime. And remote towers running on solar can experience outages during extended bad weather or if generators fail. The Coral Sea cable itself offers robust capacity, but if it were to suffer a cut (for instance, due to an undersea earthquake or ship anchor), internet speeds would plummet as the nation falls back to limited satellite backup. Such an event has not occurred yet, but in similar Pacific nations like Tonga, cable breaks have caused multi-day internet blackouts, so Solomon Islands has contingency plans involving rationing bandwidth via satellites if needed.
  • Urban vs. Rural Accessibility: A digital divide persists between the capital/urban areas and rural villages. Urban dwellers in Honiara (and to a lesser extent Gizo, Auki, Noro, etc.) benefit from infrastructure like fiber backhaul, 4G cell sites, and multiple ISP choices. Roughly one-quarter of the population lives in these areas datareportal.com, where they can access public Wi-Fi hotspots, home broadband (for those who can afford it), and smartphone data relatively easily. In Honiara, one can walk into a Telekom or Bmobile shop and purchase a data SIM or a broadband subscription; in the villages of say Temotu or the highlands of Guadalcanal, such services are simply not present. According to a recent Inclusive Digital Economy Scorecard, 75% of Solomon Islanders live in regions with “limited or outdated connectivity.” solomonstarnews.com Many rural communities lack any mobile signal – for example, a 2019 survey found dozens of villages where residents had to climb hills or paddle out to sea with a phone just to catch a faint signal for text messages. Those that do have coverage are often on 2G/3G, which might allow basic Facebook use but not much more. The government’s ongoing tower rollout (SINBIP) is directly targeting these coverage gaps, so the situation is expected to improve year by year solomonstarnews.com. Where new towers have been switched on, the impact is immediate: people can make voice calls reliably and use mobile money or access online information for the first time. However, getting service to the most isolated 20% of the population will likely rely on satellites or innovative community networks, as building towers everywhere is neither economically nor geographically feasible. The accessibility gap also extends to institutions – many rural schools and clinics still have no internet access, whereas those in Honiara often have fiber or ADSL connections through government programs. Bridging this gap is essential for equitable development.

In summary, while internet in the Solomon Islands is getting faster and cheaper in the main towns (thanks to new infrastructure and competition), it remains slow, costly, or nonexistent for a large portion of the population in remote areas. The average Solomon Islander still uses far less data per month than the average Fijian or even Papua New Guinean, due to these constraints. Until prices drop further and networks reach further, the promise of digital connectivity for all will remain a work in progress.

Recent Developments and Major Projects in Connectivity

The past five years have been momentous for Solomon Islands’ internet development, with several major projects coming to fruition and new services debuting. Below is a summary of key recent developments:

  • Coral Sea Undersea Cable (Operational 2020): A 4-fiber-pair submarine cable linking Solomon Islands to Papua New Guinea and Australia. Completed in late 2019 and online by 2020, this project ended the country’s reliance on satellites for international bandwidth gihub.org. Funded primarily by Australia, it provides a high-capacity, low-latency route to the global internet, with landing stations in Honiara (and domestic branches to Auki, Noro, Taro) gihub.org. The Coral Sea cable has been a game-changer, boosting available bandwidth to 20 Tbps and immediately improving speeds and data caps for users in connected areas gihub.org apnic.foundation. It underpins virtually all other recent improvements in telecom services.
  • Introduction of 4G/LTE (2017 and expanding): First launched by Our Telekom in Honiara in late 2017, 4G mobile service is gradually expanding. Bmobile-Vodafone also launched 4G in Honiara around 2018. Initially limited to the capital and a few towns, coverage is now extending to more islands through new tower deployments telecoms.com. By 2025, 4G is present in parts of Guadalcanal, Malaita, Western, and Choiseul provinces (often enabled via satellite backhaul). For example, Telekom, with Intelsat’s help, lit up 4G base stations in 50 remote villages in 2024–2025 capacitymedia.com. While 3G remains the main platform nationwide, the growth of LTE is bringing true broadband to mobile users in more locations budde.com.au.
  • National Broadband Tower Project (2022–2025): The Chinese-funded SINBIP project to build 161 3G/4G towers. Announced in 2022, this ambitious project is ongoing, with Huawei constructing towers across nearly all provinces developingtelecoms.com. As noted, the rollout is in phases: the first dozen towers are live (around Honiara and a couple of other islands), and further batches are in progress solomonstarnews.com. The project’s completion (expected by 2025–2026) would massively increase the land area and population covered by mobile signals – essentially bringing network access to most populated localities that today have none. If fully realized, over 80% of citizens would have mobile coverage solomonstarnews.com. This is a cornerstone of the government’s strategy to achieve universal access. The Pacific Games in late 2023 served as one catalyst for deployment, and looking forward, the 2025 National General Elections are another event driving the push for broader connectivity (e.g. to enable better communications and media access nationwide).
  • Starlink Availability (2024): Starlink’s satellite internet service went live across Solomon Islands in September 2024. Licensing was finalized and the service launched, marking the first LEO broadband option in the country solomonstarnews.com solomonstarnews.com. Within weeks, Starlink kits began proliferating among businesses and tech-savvy individuals. Local media reported excitement that “the country is set to experience a significant boost in internet connectivity” with Starlink’s arrival solomonstarnews.com. By making high-speed internet “off the grid” possible, Starlink is already changing the game for remote tourism operators, outer island health clinics, and others who can afford the equipment. The government is also exploring ways to use Starlink to connect schools and government outposts in areas the terrestrial network won’t reach. As of mid-2025, Starlink is fully operational under its local subsidiary “Starlink Solomon Islands Ltd” solomonstarnews.com, with the regulator monitoring its impact on the market. This development positions Solomon Islands among the first in the Pacific (after Tonga and a few others) to embrace LEO satellite internet for general usage.
  • Intelsat-Solomon Telekom Managed Service (2025): A partnership for satellite-backed 4G expansion. In May 2025, Intelsat and STCL announced a “broadened managed-services collaboration” using Intelsat’s Horizons-3e satellite telecoms.com. Under this deal, Intelsat provides a turnkey service – including 24/7 network monitoring and satellite backhaul – to support Telekom’s rollout of 4G LTE to more than 50 remote communities capacitymedia.com. This effectively outsources the complexity of running a satellite network, freeing Our Telekom to focus on the radio access side (the towers and customer service). Already, the project has “resulted in improved voice calls and increased data usage even in remote areas, now similar to the quality of service in towns”, according to the companies telecoms.com. By mid-2025, villagers in pilot sites on outer islands have begun enjoying mobile data and voice coverage where previously they had none. This collaboration exemplifies the innovative approaches being taken to solve the Solomons’ last-mile problem.
  • Other Developments: The period also saw Telstra’s acquisition of Digicel Pacific (2022) – while Digicel had no operations in Solomon Islands, this regional move (supported by the Australian government) was aimed at ensuring Pacific telecommunications don’t fall under unfriendly control datacenterdynamics.com. It signaled Australia’s continued strategic interest in Pacific ICT. Meanwhile, regulatory developments like the Telecommunications (Amendment) Bill 2021 mandated SIM card registration to improve security and help combat phone-related fraud budde.com.au. The government also launched an Inclusive Digital Economy scorecard and strategy (2024) to coordinate efforts in e-government, digital payments (for example, promoting the mobile wallet service IumiCash), and digital literacy programs for citizens. Another project of note is the expansion of the Pan-Pacific cable network – Solomon Islands is in discussions to possibly join future submarine cable systems (such as a proposed cable linking to French Polynesia or the U.S.), to add redundancy to the Coral Sea link. In the interim, Solomon Islands has activated a secondary microwave trunk link via Vanuatu as a backup path for regional connectivity (leveraging an existing linkage through an inter-island ferry route with microwave repeaters – though this offers limited capacity compared to fiber).

Overall, the flurry of projects since 2019 – undersea cables, new towers, new satellites – reflects an unprecedented effort to modernize Solomon Islands’ internet infrastructure. Each development addresses a layer of the connectivity puzzle, from international transit to national backbone to local access. The challenge now is ensuring these pieces interoperate smoothly and that the benefits reach the end users in meaningful ways (affordable pricing, reliable connections). The Solomon Islands’ digital landscape in 2025 is almost unrecognizable from a decade prior: bandwidth is abundant (technically), options are multiplying, and the foundation is laid for a more connected society if momentum continues.

How Solomon Islands Compares with Papua New Guinea and Fiji

Solomon Islands often draws comparisons with its Pacific neighbors, particularly Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Fiji, in terms of internet and telecom development. Each country has distinct circumstances:

  • Papua New Guinea: PNG is much larger (9+ million people, very rugged terrain) and has historically had even lower internet penetration than Solomon Islands. As of 2022, only about 13–27% of Papua New Guineans were internet users solomonstarnews.com, making it one of the least connected Asia-Pacific nations. PNG faces similar challenges of difficult geography and dispersed rural populations, but on a greater scale – vast highland areas and many villages are still without electricity or telecom service. That said, PNG has seen major investments: it shares the Coral Sea Cable with Solomon Islands (with a branch to Port Moresby), and it has multiple mobile operators (Digicel, Telikom PNG, Bmobile) competing aggressively. Digicel, prior to its acquisition by Australia’s Telstra, rolled out hundreds of mobile towers across PNG, focusing largely on basic voice/SMS service. Still, high data costs and limited infrastructure keep usage low. For example, PNG’s mobile data cost averages around $0.64 per GB, which is cheaper than Solomon’s $7/GB, but many in PNG still cannot afford data or lack coverage entirely. In terms of speed, urban PNG (Port Moresby, Lae) has access to fiber and 4G with decent speeds, but rural areas are mostly 2G/3G. Solomon Islands outpaces PNG in penetration percentage (roughly 45% vs 27% in early 2020s) datareportal.com solomonstarnews.com, likely because Solomon’s smaller size has made it a bit easier to reach more of the population, and also because PNG’s stats include many extremely remote interior communities. Both countries are relying on a mix of cables and satellites to connect remote regions – in fact, Bmobile in PNG is also looking at satellite direct-to-phone services, similar to Solomons’ Lynk project. One contrast: PNG has a domestic fiber grid (the Kumul Submarine Cable) running the length of the country, whereas Solomon Islands uses more microwave and satellite domestically beyond the Coral Sea Cable landing points. Bottom line: PNG has a larger telecom market but also a much larger unconnected population. Solomon Islands has achieved moderately higher coverage proportionally, but both face big challenges in rural connectivity. Solomon Islands can arguably implement nationwide solutions (like 161 towers) more manageably than PNG, which might require 1,000+ towers for similar reach.
  • Fiji: In stark contrast to both PNG and Solomons, Fiji is a regional leader in internet access. Thanks to a more developed economy and its role as a telecom hub, Fiji boasts an internet penetration rate of between 65% and 75% of its ~900,000 population solomonstarnews.com trade.gov. Some sources even claim over 80% of Fijians use the internet. Fiji was early to get connected – it has been linked to trans-Pacific fiber optic cables since the early 2000s (Southern Cross Cable Network), and it has multiple subsea cables now (including Southern Cross NEXT and the Tonga-Fiji cable). Fiji’s two main operators, Vodafone Fiji and Digicel Fiji (now owned by Telstra), provide near-comprehensive mobile coverage across Fiji’s two main islands and many outer islands. 4G LTE is widespread, and Fiji even launched Southeast Asia/Oceania’s first 5G network in 2023 on a pilot basis. Internet costs in Fiji are among the lowest in the Pacific – as noted, mobile data can be as cheap as $0.15/GB trade.gov, and broadband packages are affordable enough that many urban Fijians have home Wi-Fi. Fiji’s government and private sector have heavily invested in ICT (the country has a thriving call center and outsourcing industry that relies on good connectivity). In terms of speed, Fijians in cities enjoy fiber-to-the-home and 100 Mbps plans, something not yet available in Solomon Islands. Fiji’s success is partly due to geography – it has a few large islands and a more concentrated population, making infrastructure deployment easier than in Solomons or PNG. It also had a head start with earlier liberalization and investments. Compared to Fiji, Solomon Islands is playing catch-up: Solomons’ 45% penetration vs Fiji’s ~70%+ solomonstarnews.com, far higher cost per GB, and generally lower speeds and reliability. However, the gap is closing gradually. For instance, with the Coral Sea Cable, Solomons now has comparable international bandwidth per capita to Fiji. Solomon Islands is also following Fiji’s footsteps in leveraging connectivity for development – e.g., learning from Fiji’s successful mobile money and e-government programs. It may take a decade or more for Solomons to reach Fiji’s level of connectivity and ICT integration, but Fiji provides a model of what’s possible for a Pacific Island nation.

Beyond PNG and Fiji, Solomon Islands sits somewhere in the middle of Pacific Island countries. It is behind the likes of Samoa and Tonga (which have ~60–70% internet penetration and have had fiber cables for longer) solomonstarnews.com, but ahead of some smaller or less developed states like Vanuatu (~41% penetration) and Kiribati (where connectivity is very limited) solomonstarnews.com. Every Pacific nation faces the fundamental challenge of connecting many islands with small populations, but Solomon Islands, PNG, and Fiji illustrate a spectrum: from very low connectivity (PNG) to moderate (Solomons) to relatively high (Fiji). Regional cooperation is increasing – for example, the Pacific Islands Telecommunications Association facilitates knowledge sharing, and there are projects like the planned Manatua Cable 2 that could in the future link more islands together. Also, companies like SpaceX (Starlink) and OneWeb are targeting the Pacific broadly, so advances in Solomon Islands can quickly be replicated in PNG or Vanuatu, and vice versa, because technology diffusion in the satellite era is fast. In the coming years, we can expect Solomon Islands to continue improving its standing. It likely won’t catch up to Fiji immediately, but it could surpass other peers by leveraging its new infrastructure and keeping momentum on reforms and investments.

Implications of Improved Internet for Education, Health, Business, and Society

Better internet access in the Solomon Islands is not just a tech upgrade – it has profound implications for the country’s social and economic development. As connectivity expands, several sectors stand to benefit:

  • Education: Many schools in Solomon Islands have lacked the most basic connectivity; teachers in rural areas often have no access to online resources or even email. Improved internet can revolutionize education through e-learning and distance programs. For example, secondary students in an island village could attend virtual classes or access digital libraries that were previously unavailable. The government, with donor support, has trialed connecting schools via satellite and providing tablets with offline content. With the new infrastructure, these efforts are scaling up. Already, initiatives are underway to connect more schools to the internet – some high schools in provincial capitals now have broadband via the Coral Sea Cable, enabling video conferencing for teacher training and students’ research. E-education is a priority use-case highlighted by connectivity projects solomonstarnews.com. In the coming years, remote schooling (especially vital during times like the COVID-19 pandemic) and online tertiary courses from USP (University of the South Pacific) or other institutions could become accessible to Solomon Islanders outside Honiara. The hope is that a more connected education system will help address teacher shortages, improve literacy in IT, and give youth in isolated areas a window to the wider world of knowledge.
  • Healthcare: Healthcare delivery in the Solomons is challenged by distance – rural clinics are far from the National Referral Hospital in Honiara. Internet access can enable telemedicine, allowing doctors in the capital (or even abroad) to consult on cases in remote clinics via video or at least email. A nurse on an outer island could send patient data or X-ray images to specialists for analysis, rather than evacuating the patient. There have been pilot programs equipping clinics with satellite broadband to do exactly this. Additionally, better connectivity improves health administration – for instance, tracking disease outbreaks or coordinating supply of medicines to provinces. During the pandemic, limited internet outside Honiara hampered timely dissemination of public health information; increasing access will strengthen the system for future public health responses. The government specifically cites improving connectivity to “schools and hospitals” as a goal of its broadband expansion developingtelecoms.com. Even mobile coverage alone can be life-saving – a villager able to call or text for medical advice or emergency evacuation is a huge step up from complete isolation. There are anecdotal stories of communities using newfound mobile internet to WhatsApp pictures of injuries to doctors to decide if an evacuation by boat is needed. As more health facilities come online, we can expect better training (through online courses for nurses), remote diagnostics, and overall improved health outcomes due to connectivity.
  • Business and Economy: For local businesses, internet access opens up new horizons. In an agrarian economy, farmers and fishermen can use mobile internet to get market prices, weather forecasts, and to coordinate logistics. Some enterprising farmers have started using Facebook Marketplace groups to sell produce directly to buyers in town. Tourism operators on islands like Gizo and Munda rely on the internet to receive bookings from overseas and to promote their resorts – reliable broadband allows them to participate in online booking platforms and communicate quickly with clients. With Starlink, even eco-lodges in very remote atolls can advertise “Wi-Fi available” which is a draw for many tourists and digital nomads. At the macro level, improved connectivity is crucial for economic diversification: Solomon Islands aspires to develop sectors like ICT outsourcing, call centers, or fintech services, following Fiji’s example. While still a long shot, having fiber connectivity and lower latency makes it possible for Solomonians to freelance online or for international firms to consider small operations in Honiara. Moreover, internet banking and mobile money services will boost commerce – currently, the economy is largely cash-based, but with mobile coverage and internet, mobile wallet services like M-PAiSA (from Vodafone) or the local IumiCash can reach more people, making transactions easier and safer. The Central Bank has been pushing digital payments, and better internet underpins that strategy.
  • Communication and Social Connectivity: On a personal level, expanded internet access greatly enhances communication for Solomon Islanders. Families spread across different islands (or overseas, as many work in Australia/New Zealand seasonal jobs) can stay in touch via Facebook, WhatsApp, or Skype. This strengthens social ties and also has cultural significance – sharing of information, news, even church events via livestream can now happen. The Solomon Islands has a young population (median age ~19 datareportal.com), and youth are quick to adopt social media once they have connectivity. Already, about 21% of the population – essentially all regular internet users – are on platforms like Facebook datareportal.com datareportal.com, and this number will grow as access spreads. Social media has become a key channel for disseminating news and for public discourse (for better or worse). For instance, during natural disasters (which are common, e.g. cyclones, earthquakes), having mobile internet allows communities to share alerts and coordinate relief. Improved disaster response is indeed cited as one benefit of new connectivity efforts ourtelekom.com.sb – more towers and internet links mean earlier warnings for tsunamis or storms can reach remote villages, and those villages can call for help if impacted ourtelekom.com.sb. On the flip side, more connectivity also means the need for digital literacy to combat misinformation and to ensure people use the internet safely. The government and NGOs have begun digital awareness programs as part of the rollout, teaching topics from basic internet skills to cyber safety.
  • Government and Services: A connected population enables the government to deliver services more effectively. The Solomon Islands government is developing e-government portals so citizens can access information and eventually services like passport applications or business registration online (which currently often require travel to Honiara). More immediately, simple but impactful uses like SMS or Facebook public service announcements, teleconferences for provincial officials, and electronic submission of reports from rural health and education officers all become feasible with better internet. The flow of information from villages to the capital and vice versa accelerates, potentially leading to more inclusive governance and accountability. For example, when a road or clinic is damaged, officials can receive photos and reports instantly rather than waiting for the next patrol boat. Over time, the internet could help bridge the governance gap by giving remote citizens a voice (through radio call-in shows streaming on Facebook Live, etc., which some provinces have started doing).

In essence, connectivity is a catalyst that touches every facet of life. The Solomon Star newspaper summarized that new services like satellite backhaul, Starlink, the SINBIP towers, PFnet, and tele-centers are all “directly targeting rural inclusion via mixed technologies.” These efforts “aim to enable e-education, telemedicine, improved disaster response, and digital commerce in previously underserved areas.” solomonstarnews.com. Achieving these outcomes will take continued work – technology must be paired with training, local content creation, and affordability. But the trajectory is positive. As one telecom official put it, the goal is for a child in a remote island to have the same information at their fingertips as a child in Honiara or even Sydney. That is the promise of the internet in the Solomon Islands: knitting together a widely dispersed nation into a more connected, informed, and resilient community.

Conclusion and Outlook

The story of internet access in the Solomon Islands is one of overcoming isolation through innovation and partnership. In a short span, this Pacific nation has moved from near-total reliance on sluggish satellites to deploying world-class infrastructure like undersea fiber and low-orbit satellites. The “digital divide” is gradually narrowing – though still stark – as connectivity reaches more islands and prices inch downward. Solomon Islanders are already seizing the benefits, from farmers checking markets on a smartphone, to students in a distant atoll attending online classes via satellite.

Challenges unquestionably remain. The most remote 20% of the population, living on scattered islands with only a few hundred people each, are still waiting for a viable connectivity solution. Economic constraints mean that even if a signal is present, not everyone can afford to get online. And as the internet becomes more pervasive, the country will face new issues like cybersecurity, misinformation, and the need for digital skills training. The government’s role in ensuring equitable access – through smart regulations, subsidies or incentives for rural service, and digital literacy campaigns – will be crucial. International support will also continue to be important, as seen by the heavy involvement of donor nations and organizations in building Solomons’ networks.

The outlook, however, is largely optimistic. By 2025, Solomon Islands is far more connected than it has ever been, and all trends point upwards. Projects in the pipeline suggest that by the late 2020s, the vast majority of villages will have at least basic mobile internet, and many will have high-speed options via satellite or fiber links. Comparatively affordable broadband could stimulate entrepreneurship and improve public services, contributing to economic growth. One can imagine new possibilities: local fishermen using smartphone apps to find buyers in real-time, remote islands developing niche tourism by advertising online, or a digital marketplace enabling artisans to sell handicrafts abroad.

Solomon Islands’ experience also holds lessons for other developing nations with challenging geographies. It shows the importance of a multi-pronged approach – leveraging undersea cables for core capacity, satellites for reach, and policy/regulatory support to knit them together. It also highlights the impact of geopolitical competition in infrastructure (Australia and China both playing significant roles), something many Pacific countries navigate.

In the end, the drive to get Solomon Islands connected is fundamentally about people. It’s about the student in a rural village who can now research on Wikipedia, the doctor who can consult a specialist overseas, the family who can video-call a relative working abroad, and the entrepreneur who can finally access a global customer base. The internet is becoming the Solomon Islands’ bridge over its physical seas – a digital canoe that can carry its people into the future. The journey is not finished, but with each new tower, each new satellite link, the slogan of Our Telekom – “Connecting People, Connecting Solomon Islands” – is coming true in ways that seemed like science fiction only a decade ago. The Solomon Islands is racing to close its digital divide, and the progress so far suggests that even one of the world’s most remote nations can, with determination and help, truly become part of the global connected community solomonstarnews.com.

Sources: The information in this report is drawn from a variety of up-to-date sources, including telecom industry analyses budde.com.au budde.com.au, official announcements and news from Solomon Islands (e.g., Solomon Star News solomonstarnews.com solomonstarnews.com), international news services (Reuters, Guardian) on major projects developingtelecoms.com, and technical reports from organizations like the APNIC Foundation apnic.foundation apnic.foundation. Data on internet penetration and usage come from the World Bank/ITU and DataReportal digital reports datareportal.com datareportal.com. Pricing statistics are from global cost comparisons worldpopulationreview.com ispreview.co.uk. Together, these sources paint a comprehensive picture of the current state and trajectory of internet access in the Solomon Islands.

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