Chairman of the Board of the American Samoa Telecommunications Authority Roy Hall Jr. revealed yesterday that ASTCA owes the American Samoa Hawaii Cable Company between $1.7-$1.8 million.
He said ASTCA is negotiating with Blue Sky on the IOU and other issues.
The government owned telecommunications authority is a wholesaler customer of ASHC, the company which manages the undersea fiber optic cable that connects American Samoa, Samoa and Hawaii.
ASG invested $9 million in the fiber optic cable and owns a third of the shares of the company.
President of the BlueSky Group, Adolfo Montenegro is the CEO of ASHC and Iulgologo Joseph Pereira is the ASG representative on the ASHC Board.
Governor Lolo Moliga has been pushing to divest ASG’s shares in ASHC saying that it’s not right that the government is investing money in a company that competes with its own phone company.
Now ASTCA wants to invest in a new fiber optic cable, the Hawaiki Cable, with Hall saying it will save ASTCA money and ensure fast telecom services for the territory.
And to meet the first two payments of ASTCA joining Hawaiki cable, it needs a $4.7 million loan from the Retirement Fund.
ASTCA has also applied for loans from ANZ Bank as well as the Rural Utilities Service, of the US Department of Agriculture to fund its share of the new cable.
We’ll report on reaction from members of the House Communications Committee to ASTCA’s debts and why its investing in a project that may or may not get off the ground.
