Fiji’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade, Cooperatives and Small Medium Enterprises, Manoa Kamikamica recently announced that Google would invest $200 million in a data centre on Fiji. The announcement was made during an interview with fijivillage.com [fijivillage Straight Talk] The Google connectivity would represent “a serious opportunity” for Fiji to become a genuine ICT player and more of a regional hub for the nations of the Pacific.
The location of the data centre on Fiji has not been disclosed beyond being “definitely in Fiji”, nor have the specifications of the facility.
The Deputy Prime Minister also indicated that as part of Google investment the number of international cables servicing Fiji would also increase. Currently one cable runs from Fiji to Australia and he said another cable would run from Fiji to Guam and then to Japan. A further cable is planned to run from Australia to French Polynesia, Tahiti, South America, and Chile.
He added that the Google project would give the island nation the opportunity to increase its resilience in terms of data centres, and that it would open up the opportunity for Fiji to start creating other industries.
