Tongans living overseas are having a significant influence on technology trends in the small Pacific island kingdom.
Andrew Toimoana from Tonga’s broadcast regulator says as existing technology overseas goes obsolete, the equipment is sent home to relatives by Tongans living overseas, creating new demands for better quality services.
Tonga is also undergoing changes in broadcast technology, and the country sees the convergence of telecommunications and broadcast technologies.
The Tongan government, while spending limited funding on analogue to digital transition, sees the benefits of digital transition.
“Our biggest challenge is funding,” says Toimoana. But they cannot just sit back and wait.
“If we do not move with the transitions of technology, it will cost us more because we will have to catch up with two, maybe three generations of technologies,” he said.
Tonga, like other countries around the world, is seeing a widespread uptake of mobile phone technology by the youth who are moving away from conventional television broadcasts.
