Vodafone Samoa only set up its operations in the country this year and over the 120 days since its establishment has grown to become an important member of the community.

That is the view of the Vodafone Samoa Chief Executive Officer, Nofoasaefa Satish Sharma, as he looked back on how far their operations have progressed since their launching on 4 April this year.

He said the telecommunications company has taken on a number of initiatives, which has added value to the lives of the people and contributed to the wellbeing of the population.

One of these initiatives was a partnership with the Ministry of Education Sports and Culture [M.E.S.C.] through the Vodafone Student Education Programme, which necessitated the creation of such a partnership to address the challenges that students would face while at home during the state of emergency [S.O.E.] lockdown.

"The pandemic has affected studies and students because they are the future of any country and economy, Vodafone Samoa, in association with M.E.S.C. and U.N.E.S.C.O. offered a big benefit for the students of Samoa to grab a free sim card,” Nofoasaefa said.

"There were various websites asked by M.E.S.C. to be given access free of cost for students where they can surf, study, interact with teachers and watch videos for their studies free of cost."

Another community initiative that the telecommunications firm supported was Samoa’s 58th independence anniversary celebrations with Vodafone Samoa offering $58,000 in cash and prizes as part of a campaign to celebrate independence.

"Vodafone still wanted to maintain the high spirit of independence and launched a big promo of $58,000 cash and campaign where it’s the cheapest promo so far of 58GB for $58 valid for 58 days. It is still by far the best product in the value for money," Nofoasaefa added.

The company has also supported the work of not-for-profit organisations such as the Samoa Cancer Society, Samoa Victim Support Group, Red Cross and other groups that focused on providing humanitarian services. 

On the business front, working on improving internet connectivity locally continues to be a priority for the company with the introduction of the Fiber to Home Initiative [F.T.T.H.], which is a product that Vodafone Samoa now offers.

"In this product, what we do is we actually take a fibre from this office, and connect to your house or business with fibre," he said.

"When I say fibre, it’s a pipe that starts from this place and ends at your business or house. You won’t be affected by any condition or any traffic in between and won’t be affected by its shadow coverage."

The F.T.T.H. for businesses will only provide internet or WIFI while the F.T.T.H. for homes has two additional products, which Vodafone Samoa has offered called FTTH-3-in-1 product that provides internet, Moana TV, access to all premium channels, and a fixed landline number and phone with unlimited Vodafone to Vodafone calls. 

Infrastructure expansion also continues to be a top priority for Vodafone Samoa with Nofoasaefa revealing that they have already added four more towers to increase coverage, expand the spectrum with more data capacity and invest in data core systems worth US$2.5 million. 

Nofoasaefa concluded by saying that if he calculates these 120 days of promotions that Vodafone has given to Samoa, it would have cost Vodafone Samoa half a million tala.