The Retirement Fund Board has not made a decision regarding a loan application of the American Samoa Telecommunications Authority.
ASTCA chairman of the Board, Roy JD Hall Jr. wrote to the Retirement Fund Board at the start of February stating that ASTCA is applying for a loan of $4.7 million.
In separate hearings in the House of Representatives and Senate, Hall testified that ASTCA needs the money to help fund its share of a new fiber optic cable called the Hawaiki Cable.
He said ASTCA was also applying to the Rural Utilities Service of the US Department of Agriculture to pay its full share of the Hawaii Cable which he said would cost $28 million.
Listeners may recall RUS funded ASTCA’s Broadbank Linking the American Samoa Territory or BLAST project to the tune of $99 million.
Hall said the Retirement Fund loan of $4.7 would be repaid if RUS approves its loan application.
Early this week ASTCA said in a press release that it has signed a deal with the Hawaiki submarine cable, a new Trans Pacific cable which will link Australia and New Zealand to the mainland United States, as well as Hawai’i, by mid-2018.
According to the ASTCA statement, the new cable is designed with the ability to install branching units and spurs to connect South Pacific Islands to the main trunk.
Chairman Hall, Jr., is quoted saying, “This long term investment in Hawaiki will not only boost our connectivity to mainland US and the rest of the world, but will also enable us to dramatically decrease the cost of Internet in American Samoa.”
He says Hawaiki cable represents the perfect match for ASTCA’s B.L.A.S.T. program and will enable American Samoa to become a regional hub for Polynesian countries and territories wanting to connect to the US.
Meanwhile the chairman of the Retirement Fund Board Vaanatiu Toafala Iafeta said there hasn’t been any discussion on the ASCTA request.
He said at the time the Retirement Fund Board received the request for a loan from Hall, the board gave ASTCA a list of things to provide before their loan request could be considered.
These include ASTCA ‘s latest financial statement, audit report and inventory of assets.
Vaanatiu said the Retirement Fund Board has not had made a decision let alone discussed the ASCTA loan request.
