The former President and CEO of BlueSky Aoee Adolfo Monetenegro is being hired by ASG as a consultant for the American Samoa Telecommunications Authority.
This was confirmed by Governor Lolo Moliga who says that Montenegro will be brought in as a consultant advising the government on telecommunications and helping with efforts to improve ASTCA.
Asked if Montenegro has a contract with ASG, the governor said most probably when Aoee returns from off island, the government will have a contract ready for him.
Montenegro has been sitting in on meetings dealing with Samoa’s proposal for American Samoa to sign up for the Tui Samoa Cable that will connect Upolu and Savaii to Australia and New Zealand and the United States.
He has also been seen with the new chairman of the ASTCA Board of Directors, Puleleiite Tufele Li’a, who was part of Montenegro’s management team during his tenure as BlueSky President.
Montenegro was fired by BlueSky’s parent company Amper in September of last year.
Information about the circumstances surrounding his firing are still unclear but it came in the wake of news that Amper had accepted an offer from Fiji company Amalgamated Telecom Holdings for the purchase of the BlueSky group with branches in American Samoa, Samoa and the Cook Islands.
Montenegro had also headed the American Samoa Hawaii Cable, the undersea fiber optic cable connecting the two Samoa and Hawaii, and in which ASG invested $9 million.
Governor Lolo has publicly stated he wants to divest ASG’s shares in ASHC.
Asked today if that’s still his position, the governor said for now the focus is on improving ASTCA so that it can provide services for the people and also help the government.
The governor said he still believes ASG should put its money into a government entity and not a private one, and surmised that with scarce resources ASG should focus on what it owns and not split its resources with a private company.
Lolo said he’s putting on hold the divestiture of ASG shares in ASHC and focus attention on improving ASTCA.
