Telecom Fiji Limited (TFL) will no longer charge for calls made from its network of public phone booths to emergency numbers or any TFL landlines.
Local outlet Fiji Village quoted TFL CEO Charles Goundar as saying that the move was aimed at fostering “greater community” and would offer “a free and handy service that would be of genuine use to Fijians during these uncertain times”.
TFL is Fiji’s sole PSTN operator, and is described by TeleGeography as Fiji’s “de facto monopoly provider of local and national long-distance telephony”. Payphones remain a relevant communication channel in Fiji, with Goundar noting that 25,000 minutes of calls were made via the network across the past 18 months – particularly during extreme weather events when mobile networks are less reliable.