Telecommunications Milestones (1982-2007)

2002

PNCC acquired 100% ownership of Palau National Cellular, Inc. (PNCI).

ICTV added 5 new channels to the Basic Service line-up and 2 new channels to Star Select Premium Service at no additional charge to the public.

PNCC installed an NEC PBX, a large multi-line telephone system, for the Belau National Hospital, marking the company’s first time to install a PBX system after many years of experience with Norstar multi-line key systems.  Another NEC PBX was installed at the Belau International Airport.

PNCC became an affiliate authorized distributor of Nortel NorstarÓ business telephone systems and products. 

Nationwide prepaid cellular service was introduced $ing the same prepaid platform as PNCC Debusch cards, with Airtime rates as low as 15¢ per minute.

2003

PNCC developed a live local cablecast solution via IP technology (DSL), and introduced it to televise the President’s State of the Republic address.

The direct dial long distance rate was reduced to $0.99 per minute to almost 200 destinations.

Effective hourly rates for dial-up Internet customers were reduced by 50%, by doubling the number of hours on all plans and cutting the hourly rate for additional hours from $5.00 to $2.50. 

ICTV service was expanded to outlying states Angaur and Kayangel via microwave links into the national fiber optic network.

Toll authorization code service was introduced to offer additional security to IDDD customers (only callers who know the authorization code can place calls from the c$tomer’s IDDD line).

Palau’s first-ever international videoconferencing solution, using IP technology, was tested successfully at a Communications Satellite Workshop hosted jointly by PNCC, PEACESAT (Pan Pacific Education and Communication Experiments by Satellite), and CITAG (Republic of Palau Communications Information Technology Advisory Group).

The Palau Visitors Channel, a high-quality video guide to Palau running in a 24-hour loop, debuted on ICTV, with the goal of providing advertising opportunities to local businesses.