Satellite
Solomon Islands relied exclusively on satellite for its international gateway until the Coral Sea Cable and the Solomon Islands Domestic Network came into service in 2020. Before that, although domestic costs were effectively moderated by competition, the country did not enjoy the benefits which some other Pacific nations have in terms of faster internet access speed and lower charges for international interconnectivity, because their connections were via high capacity undersea cable.
Notwithstanding the arrival of the undersea cables, the established mobile network operators still require satellite and microwave connectivity for telecommunications distribution around provincial locations. In addition, the new international Low Earth Orbit and Near Earth Orbit constellations will be accessible from throughout the Solomon Islands, meaning that local internet connectivity can be achieved without a ubiquitous nationwide network. Moreover, the new satellite services will have very low signal latency, making them comparable with cable services for sensitive applications such as financial transactions.
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