Amalgamated Telecom Holdings Limited (ATH) has made a profit after tax of F$41.5 million for its financial year ended 31 March 2007 - an increase of 18.9% over the profit of F$34.9 million recorded for the preceding financial year.
ATH said the result was achieved despite lower prices imposed on the telecommunications industry by the Commerce Commission in October 2005. The Group was still able to come through that challenge through efficiency gains and astute marketing.
The Group says that it is well placed now to develop and get its business ready for the upcoming deregulation of the industry.
The ATH Group is made up of Telecom Fiji Limited, Vodafone Fiji Limited, Fiji Directories Limited, Connect Fiji Limited, Transtel Limited and Xceed Pasifika Limited.
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Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Company to offer Voice over Internet Protocol services
Unwired Fiji, an Internet Services Provider operating in Suva, Fiji, will be introducing Voice-Over-Internet Protocol (VOIP) services from July this year. The new services will see international calls reduced by up to 90% as individuals make calls over the Internet.
The company will first introduce the service over the Suva and greater Suva areas. The new service should help cut business costs as businesses make use of the cheaper alternative form of making international calls.
Unwired Fiji uses wireless internet services and has been operating in the Suva and Lami areas since 2005.
The company will first introduce the service over the Suva and greater Suva areas. The new service should help cut business costs as businesses make use of the cheaper alternative form of making international calls.
Unwired Fiji uses wireless internet services and has been operating in the Suva and Lami areas since 2005.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Westpac reduces interest rates further
Westpac Banking Corporation has reduced its lending rates further by 0.25% from today, Monday, 25 June 2007. The total reductions in interest rates over the month was 0.5%. The bank had made the related announcement earlier this month and which we posted on this blog on 3 June 2007.
The bank had earlier stated that the reduction of its business and consumer base lending rates indicates the improved liquidity position that the bank has experienced since the recent reduction of statutory reserve deposits requirements (i.e. deposits required to be held with the Reserve Bank of Fiji) in May.
The bank said that it would continue to monitor liquidity in the banking system and will review its interest rates accordingly.
The bank had earlier stated that the reduction of its business and consumer base lending rates indicates the improved liquidity position that the bank has experienced since the recent reduction of statutory reserve deposits requirements (i.e. deposits required to be held with the Reserve Bank of Fiji) in May.
The bank said that it would continue to monitor liquidity in the banking system and will review its interest rates accordingly.
Westpac Interest Rates (Updated 25.6.07)
Schedule of interest rates released by Westpac Fiji are as follows :
- Business Lending Rate - 11.49%;
- Residential Property Loan : Variable Rate - 11.25%, 1 year Fixed Rate - 9.75%;
- Investment Loan : Variable Rate - 11.25%, , 1 year Fixed Rate - 9.75%;
- Retail Term Deposits : 6 to less than 9 months - 3.75%, 9 months to less than 1 year - 3.75%, 1 year to less than 1.5 Years - 3.75%, 1.5 years to less than 2 Years - 3.75%, 2 years to less than 3 Years - 3.75%.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Statements by Government at the Fiji Tourism Forum 2007
Read below the positions given by the Interim Minister of Finance and the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji at the Fiji Tourism Forum 2007 currently being held at the Shangri-La Resort, Sigatoka, Fiji. The articles are taken from the Fiji Times, Saturday, 23 June 2007.
"Find your own funds, says Chaudhry, Saturday, June 23, 2007
The tourism industry must be responsible for finding its own marketing funds, says interim Finance Minister Mahendra Chaudhry.
"How long will you expect the Government to carry the marketing burden," he asked tourism stakeholders at the industry's forum.
"The industry should stand on its own feet."
"Let Government not be one of the key drivers of your marketing efforts.
"You are a private sector with many stakeholders."
He was responding to questions on what actions the Finance Ministry could take to offset the loss of income caused by the dramatic drop in tourism revenue.
Mr Chaudhry said while the interim Government would help the industry, it had to take the responsibility for doing its own marketing.
He also urged the expansion of flying destinations.
He said he had never heard of the tourism industry criticising the national airline for not flying to destinations such as London or South East Asian countries.
"It is time to get out of the box. If we can not get the aircraft to fly to other destinations, the least we could do is to negotiate code sharing arrangements," Mr Chaudhry said.
His comments followed the tourism industry's request last month for an extra $3.8million for marketing funds.
The FVB and Tourism Action Group were given $10million for marketing in the revised 2007 Budget but the interim administration had promised $15million for the bureau and $3.8m for TAG.
In March, the industry's request for another $9million was rejected by the interim administration.
Interim Tourism Minister Bernadette Rounds-Ganilau said the industry was waiting for the interim Government's response on the submission for $3.8million."
"Fiji in crisis: RBF, Saturday, June 23, 2007
Fiji is in a state of crisis, says the Reserve Bank, and its exports are expected to remain flat in most industries.
The analysis was presented by RBF deputy governor Sada Reddy at a panel discussion at the Fiji Tourism Forum 2007 at the Shangri-la Fijian Resort in Sigatoka.
He said the bank's prediction of negative economic growth remained because the economy was not performing.
The forecast of negative growth of two and half per cent was expected to remain, he said.
"Using figures available to us in January and February, we forecast a growth of negative 2.5 per cent for this year," he said.
"These figures are currently under review. But information available to us says this is expected to remain."
Mr Reddy said with only one or two export industries performing well, exports were expected to remain flat.
"We cannot see any of the other sectors growing in terms of exports. Except for one or two industries such as Fiji Water, all the others are flat," he said.
He said imports continued to grow but following recent policies put in place by the central bank, there was a decrease in imports of five per cent.
Still, imports were strong because exports were not doing well, Mr Reddy said.
He said Fiji had a trade deficit of $2billion and tourism and remittances had been bridging the gap.
Mr Reddy said the central bank could not see potential in any other sector apart from tourism. He said recent policies put in place by the central bank were to protect foreign reserves.
He said submissions had been made by industries and commercial banks on the restriction of policies but these industries needed to understand the situation.
"If we do not handle this crisis, I call it a crisis, because we are in a situation where we had to put in policies," he said.
He said there was a need for the sectors to understand the policies put in place and work together, to avoid harsher policies. He said the restrictions were placed after much thinking.
Mr Reddy said tourism was the only industry which had huge immediate and potential benefits in terms of helping in this period of economic difficulty.
Last year, tourism brought in $742million in gross foreign receipts and visitor arrivals were 545,000.
Mr Reddy said foreign receipts were forecast at $670million this year with around 500,000 visitor arrivals.
He said occupancy rates were still very low and urgent measures should be placed to improve occupancy."
"Find your own funds, says Chaudhry, Saturday, June 23, 2007
The tourism industry must be responsible for finding its own marketing funds, says interim Finance Minister Mahendra Chaudhry.
"How long will you expect the Government to carry the marketing burden," he asked tourism stakeholders at the industry's forum.
"The industry should stand on its own feet."
"Let Government not be one of the key drivers of your marketing efforts.
"You are a private sector with many stakeholders."
He was responding to questions on what actions the Finance Ministry could take to offset the loss of income caused by the dramatic drop in tourism revenue.
Mr Chaudhry said while the interim Government would help the industry, it had to take the responsibility for doing its own marketing.
He also urged the expansion of flying destinations.
He said he had never heard of the tourism industry criticising the national airline for not flying to destinations such as London or South East Asian countries.
"It is time to get out of the box. If we can not get the aircraft to fly to other destinations, the least we could do is to negotiate code sharing arrangements," Mr Chaudhry said.
His comments followed the tourism industry's request last month for an extra $3.8million for marketing funds.
The FVB and Tourism Action Group were given $10million for marketing in the revised 2007 Budget but the interim administration had promised $15million for the bureau and $3.8m for TAG.
In March, the industry's request for another $9million was rejected by the interim administration.
Interim Tourism Minister Bernadette Rounds-Ganilau said the industry was waiting for the interim Government's response on the submission for $3.8million."
"Fiji in crisis: RBF, Saturday, June 23, 2007
Fiji is in a state of crisis, says the Reserve Bank, and its exports are expected to remain flat in most industries.
The analysis was presented by RBF deputy governor Sada Reddy at a panel discussion at the Fiji Tourism Forum 2007 at the Shangri-la Fijian Resort in Sigatoka.
He said the bank's prediction of negative economic growth remained because the economy was not performing.
The forecast of negative growth of two and half per cent was expected to remain, he said.
"Using figures available to us in January and February, we forecast a growth of negative 2.5 per cent for this year," he said.
"These figures are currently under review. But information available to us says this is expected to remain."
Mr Reddy said with only one or two export industries performing well, exports were expected to remain flat.
"We cannot see any of the other sectors growing in terms of exports. Except for one or two industries such as Fiji Water, all the others are flat," he said.
He said imports continued to grow but following recent policies put in place by the central bank, there was a decrease in imports of five per cent.
Still, imports were strong because exports were not doing well, Mr Reddy said.
He said Fiji had a trade deficit of $2billion and tourism and remittances had been bridging the gap.
Mr Reddy said the central bank could not see potential in any other sector apart from tourism. He said recent policies put in place by the central bank were to protect foreign reserves.
He said submissions had been made by industries and commercial banks on the restriction of policies but these industries needed to understand the situation.
"If we do not handle this crisis, I call it a crisis, because we are in a situation where we had to put in policies," he said.
He said there was a need for the sectors to understand the policies put in place and work together, to avoid harsher policies. He said the restrictions were placed after much thinking.
Mr Reddy said tourism was the only industry which had huge immediate and potential benefits in terms of helping in this period of economic difficulty.
Last year, tourism brought in $742million in gross foreign receipts and visitor arrivals were 545,000.
Mr Reddy said foreign receipts were forecast at $670million this year with around 500,000 visitor arrivals.
He said occupancy rates were still very low and urgent measures should be placed to improve occupancy."
EU ready to help with Fiji recovery
The European Union has said that it is ready to help with Fiji's recovery and the road back to democratic government through the provision of technical and financial assistance.
This position was made in a statement released by the EU which said that it was closely monitoring the situation and developments in Fiji and that it had welcomed the progress being made.
The EU said it welcomed progress made in dialogue with the Pacific Islands Forum and the completion of work of independent experts. It said that it was also happy with the lifting of the public emergency regulation on 31 May 2007.
This position was made in a statement released by the EU which said that it was closely monitoring the situation and developments in Fiji and that it had welcomed the progress being made.
The EU said it welcomed progress made in dialogue with the Pacific Islands Forum and the completion of work of independent experts. It said that it was also happy with the lifting of the public emergency regulation on 31 May 2007.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Another potential export from Fiji
Another newly identified potential export from Fiji is the "balabala", the dried black trunk of a tree fern that grows in the wild in Fiji. Balabala is a newly discovered niche export product which is making it big in the United States of America.
Read more in the article below from the Fiji Times, Tuesday, 19 June 2007.
"Cama cashes in on balabala, Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Think orchids and immediately you’d picture the balabala the dried black trunk of the tree fern that is made up of thin black stick-like things that are easily broken off.
Now why the link with the orchids?
Well, as most people probably know, the balabala is the plant on which orchids flourish best.
At Wainadoi, past Veisari, on the Queens Highway outside Suva, there’s a little shed from where Cama Vakaloloma sells balabala.
Well and good you may think but what Cama has done with these plants is cut them into shapes like the Fijian bure in a bid to make them bit more presentable.
He is in his 50s and hails from Moce, in Lau.
He worked 13 years for Leylands, in Naboro, before he succumbing to ill-health, which ended his employment there. Cama said he almost lost his life and during his recovery, he was confined to home.
He said the forest area behind his home had wild balabala galore so he decided to cut and sell them by the roadside.
It is a decision he never regretted as he can make up to $80 on a day.
But the best part about it all is that he didn’t even have to worry about growing and constantly nurturing the tree ferns, which thrive in damp areas.
Easy money that’s what he calls it.
And, it was a like a blessing in disguise because he couldn’t really do heavy or active work.
He said at first he started by selling the balabala in its natural shape before deciding to get creative and carve shapes out of it.
At first he would cut them into smaller cylindrical shapes but after a while, he started by cutting out designs on them using his cane knife.
Then he decided to carve bure and other shapes.
That creative decision brought its own rewards from one plant, he can cut and carve two or three items.
Cama says he started selling the balabala plants for $3 but that has since risen to $8-$9, depending on the size of the plant.
He laughed and said he decided to make it cheap because the plant grew naturally in abundance.
Most balabala buyers are florists or hoteliers.
As such, Cama says he is never short of buyers and makes quite a killing at the end of the day.
He said the balabala was rather funny because once you cut it down, it won’t grow there again.
And he was equally puzzled on how the balabala regenerated because it didn’t appear to have seeds.
Cama said at one time, a person bought all the uncut (and uncarved) plants that he had been selling –– so that in a space of a few minutes, he was $84 richer.
Yesterday, Cama was helped by his nephew, Vitale Varo, who hails from Navunikabi, in Namosi.
Vitale says the balabala plants are easy to get because they are light and were there for the taking.
He said he was only visiting his aunt and uncle and learnt about carving balabala from watching his uncle.
One balabala he had carved was in the shape of a burekalou and you can’t help but think of the burekalou at the Arts Village in Pacific Harbour when you see this particular balabala.
He says the road leads right to the forest and all that was needed to fetch the balabala was a cane knife and a sturdy wheelbarrow to transport it back home. He said they were never short of buyers and at night, they left the balabala in their stall. But no one has ever stolen the plants even though the stall is unattended at night.
And, just like his uncle Cama, he says carving shapes out of balabala doesn’t take that long to complete as his prized burekalou carving took him just a little more than an hour to complete.
Now don’t hesitate to stop by their stall, which is on the slope just before you reach Wainadoi Village (if you’re heading towards Navua and beyond), if you’re one for a touch of uniqueness in plants. "
Read more in the article below from the Fiji Times, Tuesday, 19 June 2007.
"Cama cashes in on balabala, Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Think orchids and immediately you’d picture the balabala the dried black trunk of the tree fern that is made up of thin black stick-like things that are easily broken off.
Now why the link with the orchids?
Well, as most people probably know, the balabala is the plant on which orchids flourish best.
At Wainadoi, past Veisari, on the Queens Highway outside Suva, there’s a little shed from where Cama Vakaloloma sells balabala.
Well and good you may think but what Cama has done with these plants is cut them into shapes like the Fijian bure in a bid to make them bit more presentable.
He is in his 50s and hails from Moce, in Lau.
He worked 13 years for Leylands, in Naboro, before he succumbing to ill-health, which ended his employment there. Cama said he almost lost his life and during his recovery, he was confined to home.
He said the forest area behind his home had wild balabala galore so he decided to cut and sell them by the roadside.
It is a decision he never regretted as he can make up to $80 on a day.
But the best part about it all is that he didn’t even have to worry about growing and constantly nurturing the tree ferns, which thrive in damp areas.
Easy money that’s what he calls it.
And, it was a like a blessing in disguise because he couldn’t really do heavy or active work.
He said at first he started by selling the balabala in its natural shape before deciding to get creative and carve shapes out of it.
At first he would cut them into smaller cylindrical shapes but after a while, he started by cutting out designs on them using his cane knife.
Then he decided to carve bure and other shapes.
That creative decision brought its own rewards from one plant, he can cut and carve two or three items.
Cama says he started selling the balabala plants for $3 but that has since risen to $8-$9, depending on the size of the plant.
He laughed and said he decided to make it cheap because the plant grew naturally in abundance.
Most balabala buyers are florists or hoteliers.
As such, Cama says he is never short of buyers and makes quite a killing at the end of the day.
He said the balabala was rather funny because once you cut it down, it won’t grow there again.
And he was equally puzzled on how the balabala regenerated because it didn’t appear to have seeds.
Cama said at one time, a person bought all the uncut (and uncarved) plants that he had been selling –– so that in a space of a few minutes, he was $84 richer.
Yesterday, Cama was helped by his nephew, Vitale Varo, who hails from Navunikabi, in Namosi.
Vitale says the balabala plants are easy to get because they are light and were there for the taking.
He said he was only visiting his aunt and uncle and learnt about carving balabala from watching his uncle.
One balabala he had carved was in the shape of a burekalou and you can’t help but think of the burekalou at the Arts Village in Pacific Harbour when you see this particular balabala.
He says the road leads right to the forest and all that was needed to fetch the balabala was a cane knife and a sturdy wheelbarrow to transport it back home. He said they were never short of buyers and at night, they left the balabala in their stall. But no one has ever stolen the plants even though the stall is unattended at night.
And, just like his uncle Cama, he says carving shapes out of balabala doesn’t take that long to complete as his prized burekalou carving took him just a little more than an hour to complete.
Now don’t hesitate to stop by their stall, which is on the slope just before you reach Wainadoi Village (if you’re heading towards Navua and beyond), if you’re one for a touch of uniqueness in plants. "
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