Picture this... living in a rural Hawaiian Home Land development 60 miles or more from the nearest university classroom. Yet you log on to your computer each evening for high-speed, interactive communications with the university of your choice to complete your degree. That is one simple version of virtually hundreds of ways high-speed broadband telecommunications can benefit customers. Yet due to vast distances between residential areas of Hawaii Island, no one has undertaken the commitment to provide those services to rural areas, particularly Hawaiian Home Lands. Until Sandwich Isles Communications entered the picture that is. Nowadays, drive along Queen Kaahumanu Highway and you’ll see mile after mile of thick white, green, blue, orange, black and red conduit, dozens of workers, and heavy equipment roadside. What we are seeing is a small part of a huge multi-million dollar statewide project. Sandwich Isles chairman Bob Kihune sees this as the beginning of a statewide vision for rural economic development, community empowerment, and a major high-tech employment base for returning kama'aina in the future. "The network will erase the digital divide between those who live in rural areas and the highly-served urban centers of the. Access to a broadband network means greater participation in all kinds of economic activities, and that will be a boost for the entire state", Kihune said.

Sandwich Isles Communications, Inc. (SIC) is a rural telephone company with a license to provide service to Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL). Its mission is to provide modern, next generation, high-speed broadband telecommunications services to new customers, using technology that will minimize disruptions to Hawaii’s special environment. SIC was founded in 1995, and has been serving DHHL since 1998.

The SIC network will tie together DHHL areas on the six major Hawaiian Islands. The network is designed to avoid disrupting scenic view planes through installation of underground fiber optic cables. During construction, SIC is also requiring contractors to use drilling and boring techniques to minimize excavation, erosion, and open trenching. The SIC system will be independent of any existing networks owned and operated by other current providers in Hawaii. When complete, the network will stretch 1,500 miles. The 750 mile submarine portion of the fiber optic network will connect the islands with primary and alternate routes. On land, the 750 mile terrestrial portion will be completely underground, also with primary and alternate routes. By building both primary and alternate routes intra-state redundancy is created to ensure reliability for high quality service.

A modern, broadband fiber optic system will provide rural areas of Hawaii with essential telecommunications services at affordable rates. It would also allow underserved DHHL homesteaders to access new interactive services such as telemedicine, educational programming, video and data transmissions, and the Internet. Because SIC is participating in a federal loan program to build out the telecommunications network, no funding is required from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

As a rural telephone company, SIC is eligible for Universal Service Fund support to build and operate a telecommunications network in remote and insular areas, specifically DHHL. Since SIC initiated services and became operational in 1998, it has invested over $50 million in facilities, digital switching and related equipment and services. Three central office buildings housing telecommunications equipment have been completed in Panaewa, Puukapu and Laiopua.

Between now and 2007, SIC’s project will result in over $500 million in new construction statewide. Hawaii Island’s portion of the project began in August 2002 and upon completion, will equate to over $100 million. There are currently 65 employees on Hawaii Island working with SIC and MasTec Construction, the contracted drilling experts for the project.

This amazing high speed network, linking all six major islands with full redundancy will connect and serve many of those island residents previously bypassed because of high cost and nonavailability of facilities.

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