School to get e-library

 By MALUM NALU

A LEADING Papua New Guinea telecommunications engineer based in the United States, says affordable internet access should be made available to all schools in the country.

Mathew Wari, chief executive of Wanples Wireless, made the call when signing a contract for a K72,000 VSAT communication system with unlimited access for Wards Strip Demonstration School, in Port Moresby.

The VSAT system will be installed next week.

The company has negotiated with Hawaii Pacific Teleport to lease satellite bandwidth to secure financially-viable solutions and business opportunities for service providers.

“This is the first for a school in PNG and we’d like to see this rolled out in other schools in the National Capital District and around the country,” Wari said.

“We are going to link them via VSAT, which will provide unlimited access.

“The idea is to bring in a server, with four or five users for a start, and gradually increase.”

Wari, who set up the National Weather Service’s satellite communication system in July, aims to provide cheaper, faster and better information and telecommunication services throughout PNG.

Wards Strip chairman Samuel Maiha said the school was breaking new ground with the installation of its VSAT system.

“What we intend to do is put in an e-library where all the resources are going to be available and our students will be able to use, as opposed to the traditional libraries we have,” he said.

“If our kids are going to be empowered like kids around the world, we need e-libraries.”