Communication at last for remote WNB villages

LAST week, the first phone call was made from within the remote Aria and Banu valleys directly to the West New Britain government headquarters to confirm the installation of two new VSats at Pomalal and Asirim villages.
Governor Peter Humphreys said the National Disaster Office released K3.5 million to Telikom PNG to facilitate the installation of VSat communicating systems in some of the worst disaster zones in the country.
Out of the funding, K420,000 was used for six VSats
allocated to West New Britain at a cost of K70,000 for
each location.
The completion of the VSats at Pomalal and Asirim were the last two of the six that were installed in selected locations in West New Britain.
The most recent was in the remote Bulumuri area within the Talasea area to help seafarers travelling between Bali Vitu and Kove islands.
The other three VSats were installed at Makiri on Bali Island, Ulamona in the Bialla LLG and Amio in Gasmata LLG within the Kandrian-Gloucester open electorate.
Technical experts were still at the site to monitor the final settings.