Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — American Samoa TeleCommunications Authority (ASTCA) acting Chief Executive Officer, Chuck Leota told lawmakers that the government owned telecom, currently doesn’t have a “back-up” system, in case of problems or disruption to the Hawaiki undersea fiber optic cable, launched some five years ago, but still has no new off-island customers.

Leota made the revelation, responding to queries by Rep. Larry Sanitoa during ASTCA’s fiscal year 2022 budget hearing before the Fono Joint Budget Committee on Monday.

In previous fiscal years, ASTCA’s budget included money allocated to pay fees for the O3B satellite network, which was the back-up system for ASTCA. But for FY 2022 there’s no funding allocation.

Sanitoa queried as to what will happen with broadband connectivity if there’s serious problems or disruption to the Hawaiki cable. “Do we have a back-up plan?” the Tualauta faipule asked.

Leota replied that there’s currently “no-back up to Hawaiki” and discussions have been ongoing since the beginning of year, looking at all options, for a “back-up” system.

He said ASTCA’s connection to the O3B network is no longer operational and it’s costly to have it fixed and returned to service. He also said that all fees owed to O3B have already been paid and cleared.

For “back-up” options, Leota explained that there are discussions with other satellite providers as well as with the Samoa-American Samoa fiber optic cable system — connecting American Samoa to Samoa.

“This is a very important issue. If something happens to the Hawaiki cable” it will have a serious impact on the territory, which depends on broadband connectivity for ASG, private sector and others, said Sanitoa, who noted that ASTCA board of directors vice chair, Sen. Utu Sila Poasa is in attendance and would be aware of some of these issues.

Sanitoa also queried if there are any new customers for the American Samoa branch-link of Hawaiki cable to which Leota said “no”, and that nothing has changed since last year, with only ASG, ASTCA and locally based businesses as customers.

Leota said there are negotiations with other Pacific nations. However, for “confidential” reasons, he could not provide details of such negotiations.

Sanitoa reminded Leota that American Samoa spent $30 million on the Hawaiki cable that was launched about 5 years ago, but still no new customers.

In a news release from New Zealand, Hawaiki Submarine Cable Limited Partnership and International Connectivity Services Limited (“Hawaiki”) announced on July 26th, the sale of 100  percent of the shares of the company to BW Digital Pte. Ltd., an affiliate of BW Group Limited, for an undisclosed price.

It also says that the current Hawaiki team will continue to manage the business, and the transaction is subject only to applicable regulatory filings and approval. (See Samoa News edition July 26th for details.)

During the budget hearing, Senate President Tuaolo Manaia Fruean asked if ASTCA has been notified, to which Leota said yes and explained that on the following day — after the notification — ASTCA held a conference-call with Hawaiki to discuss issues such as any changes going forward, under the new ownership.

Leota said one issue that was clear, is that Hawaiki’s current CEO will remain on under the new ownership. However, he said final negotiations on the purchase of Hawaiki by the new owner are not yet completed and therefore no other specific details are available.

SALARIES

Sanitoa pointed to the FY 2022 proposed salary for ASTCA’s CEO that is currently $85,000 but rises to $97,000 for the new fiscal year. He asked if ASTCA has hired a CEO, to which Leota said no and the issue remains with the board for a final decision.

Sanitoa acknowledged that a decision on salaries rests with the ASTCA board of directors but said that the FY 2022 shows salary hikes for top management personnel and it appears that there are increases for several workers based on the new ASG minimum wage increase.

Sanitoa and other lawmakers urged ASTCA to look at the salaries of its workforce.

ASTCA’s budget documents show that current salary for the Chief Operations Officer at $80,000 and this position gets a $6,000 pay hike for FY 2022.

Three other positions also get a $6,000 pay hike in 2022 — Chief Technical Officer, Chief Legal Officer and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) — from the current salary of $75,000 to $81,000 in FY 2022.

ASTCA’s proposed FY 2022 budget totals $24 million with 200 positions — for which more than $5.58 million is allocated for personnel costs.

It was noted during the hearing that the authority has an acting CFO and information received by Samoa News yesterday states that ASTCA continues its search for a permanent one.