In the Federated States of Micronesia, satellite channels had been established to connect major islands. However, Internet environments in remote islands and rural areas still had high usage fees, very slow connections (about several kbps to 128 kbps), and delays due to two-hop routing of satellites, which was unique to island countries.
In 2009, the Foundation built telecenters in three regions (three states) in collaboration with the Ministry of Transport and Communication Infrastructure of this country.
In this project, as APT's ICT pilot construction project, the Foundation and Waseda University worked together to perform the project in cooperation with the country's Ministry of Education, state's Ministry of Education, FSM Telecom, College of Micronesia-FSM, three state governments, elementary schools, junior high schools, and city governments (five locations).
Specifically, we built telecenters that satisfied the conditions of the islands and regions, in three states (five locations). We connected the three states, located approximately 500 km apart, via a satellite-connected VPN, and connected them to an Internet gateway line located in the capital, Pohnpei. Additionally, we set up file and cache servers on each island for synchronization.
With these devices, the Internet download speeds were improved. In addition to the implementation of this project, we donated 20 used PCs, which were restored by KDDI, and new Windows, Office, and virus check software were installed at Xavier High School, a local prestigious high school, which contributed to the improvement of literacy in island countries.
