Honiara (TCSI): Political stability is being credited with the sharp rise in mobile penetration in the Solomon Islands.

This is according to a recently released report from Research & Markets which credited the increased level of mobile penetration to Solomon Islands recent political and economic stability and to improvements to Our Telekom and Bmobile’s mobile infrastructure.

Instances of political instability in recent years such as the riots in April of this year following the election of the new Solomon Islands prime minister seem to have not been significant enough to upset the relatively calm political climate being that is being enjoyed by the Solomon Islands. 

According to the report from Research & Markets, improvements to internet services are expected with both the build-out of a new submarine cable known as the Coral Sea Cable System which will link PNG to the Solomon Islands, with a connecting cable to the Australian (Sydney) landing station.

In addition, the planned launch of the Kacific-1 satellite later this year should also improve broadband satellite capacity for the Solomon Islands.

Recent 3G mobile network expansions and upgrades by the two major operators, Our Telekom (operating as Breeze) and Bmobile-Vodafone, are improving mobile services and in turn driving uptake, including an increase in mobile broadband subscriptions.

Various international organisations such as The World Bank and Asian Development Bank have taken a special interest in seeing communication services improved in both the Solomon Islands and Pacific region in general.