Samoa Submarine Cable Company Declares $1,923,600 Dividend for Financial year 2019

SAMOA, May 28 - PRESS RELEASE. Apia, Samoa, 28 May 2020. Samoa Submarine Cable Company Limited (SSCC), established in April 2015, pays its first dividend four years ahead of its business plan forecast. The total dividend to be paid is $1,923,600.

SSCC was created by the Government of Samoa and the company’s six founding shareholders Samoa National Provident Fund (SNPF), Unit Trust of Samoa (UToS), Samoa Life Assurance Corporation (SLAC), Bluesky Samoa Ltd (BSL), Computer Services Ltd (CSL) and Digicel Samoa Ltd (DSL) with support of development partners. SSCC mandate was to procure, construct and operate Samoa’s first international submarine cable “Tui-Samoa submarine cable” to bridge the digital divide and offer fast, reliable and affordable internet connectivity for Samoa to deliver economic and social prosperity. On 9 February 2018, Tui-Samoa Cable went into service. The system is designed to deliver capacity of up to 16 Terabits-per-second (Tbit/s) using 100 Gbit/s transmission technology with landing points in Apia and Tuasivi (Samoa) and Suva (Fiji) and branches to Vanua Levu – Savusavu (Fiji) and Wallis & Futuna.

Since launch, SSCC has also procured a significant amount of capacity from Southern Cross Network (SXN). This enables SSCC to offer tailored solutions to its customers between Samoa and all the landing points of the Southern Cross Network including POP access in Australia and the United States. The seamless technical and commercial integration of the Tui-Samoa network with the SXN network has enabled SSCC to be the first regional cable company with Trans-Pacific extensions offering customised cost effective solutions with significantly increased bandwidth and network functionality for Samoan customers.

The success of Tui-Samoa Cable has also allowed SSCC to be a founding partner in the first ever consortium submarine cable in our region. This cable, called Manatua Cable, links Tahiti (French Polynesia) to Samoa with branches to Rarotonga and Atutaki (Cook Islands) and Niue. The Manatua consortium (of which SSCC is a member) will own and operate Manatua Cable in accordance with the Manatua Construction and Maintenance Agreement (C&MA) which was executed by the four founding parties on 30 September 2018. The Manatua cable in expected to be ready for service during quarter two 2020.

Also in 2018, SSCC in partnership with SubCom and the Government of Samoa constructed the Submarine Cable Depot in Apia in order to support and maintain more than 19 cable systems (69,000 km of telecommunications and power cable systems) in the South Pacific region under the South Pacific Marine Maintenance Agreement (SPMMA). In addition to the maintenance function above the SubCom (Apia, Samoa) submarine cable maintenance depot supports regional submarine cable installation activities including the Manatua Consortium Cable.

“SSCC’s successful execution of its commercial and technical strategy laid out in its business plan, highlights the company’s vision and leadership that has delivered this fantastic achievement of paying its first dividend four years ahead of SSCC business plan forecast. In addition to SSCC financial success, we have also delivered our social dividend to the Samoan people with high quality and affordable connectivity to Samoa (in particular to rural communities). We are happy to have played a leading role in bridging the South Pacific’s digital divide via fast, reliable and affordable connectivity for all”, SSCC CEO, Emmanuel Delanoue said. Emmanuel went on to say that “the $1.9m dividend being paid out today is testament of the take-up of Tui-Samoa Cable capacity and further supports Government’s decision to undertake such an ambitious project on behalf of the Samoan people”.

“On behalf of Samoa Submarine Cable Company, I would like to thank the Government of Samoa, our development partners, the Asian Development Bank, World Bank and the Australian Government, SSCC six founding shareholders, our customers and the people of Samoa for their extraordinary support. Furthermore, during this important milestone we also remember and acknowledge SSCC’s late founding directors, Laeimau Tevi Tanuvasa (CSL) and Sa’u Justina Sa’u (UToS), for their hard work and belief in the Tui-Samoa project. SSCC will continue to work together to connect more people as a means to improve social and economic prosperity for our region,” commented Tevaga Viane Tagiilima, said, SSCC Chairperson.

About Samoa Submarine Cable Company (SSCC) SSCC is a private company incorporated in Apia Samoa which built and operates the Tui- Samoa submarine cable between Apia Samoa and Suva Fiji with spurs to Savaii and Wallis & Futuna. SSCC also provides cable landing party arrangements for other regional and trans- pacific international cable systems. SSCC mandate is to operate an open access and non- discriminatory landing party in order to deliver fast, reliable and affordable internet services to promote ICT innovation and development as an enabler of economic growth and social prosperity for the people of Samoa and the Pacific region

May 29, 2020