French Polynesia Communications - 2024

Telephones - fixed lines

total subscriptions: 138,658 (2022 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 36 (2021 est.)

Telephones - mobile cellular

total subscriptions: 322,918 (2021 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 106 (2021 est.)

Telecommunication systems

general assessment: French Polynesia has one of the most advanced telecoms infrastructures in the Pacific Islands region; the remoteness of the territory with its scattering of 130 islands and atolls has made connectivity vital for its inhabitants; the first submarine cable was deployed in 2010 and since then additional cables have been connected to the islands, vastly improving French Polynesia’s international connectivity; an additional domestic submarine cable, the Natitua Sud, will connect more remote islands by the end of 2022; French Polynesia is also a hub for satellite communications in the region; a considerable number of consumers access FttP-based services; with the first data center in French Polynesia on the cards, the quality and price of broadband services is expected to improve as content will be able to be cached locally, reducing costs for consumers; for 2022, fixed broadband subscriptions reached an estimated 22%; about 43% of the territory’s mobile connections are on 3G networks, while LTE accounts for 12%; by 2025, LTE is expected to account for more than half of all connections; it is also estimated that 77% of mobile subscribers will have smart phones by 2025 (2022)

domestic: fixed-line subscriptions nearly 36 per 100 persons and mobile-cellular density is roughly 106 per 100 persons (2021)

international: country code - 689; landing points for the NATITUA, Manatua, and Honotua submarine cables to other French Polynesian Islands, Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa and US; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Pacific Ocean) (2019)

Broadcast media

French public overseas broadcaster Reseau Outre-Mer provides 2 TV channels and 1 radio station; 1 government-owned TV station; a small number of privately owned radio stations (2019)

Internet country code

.pf

Internet users

total: 218,100 (2021 est.)

percent of population: 72.7% (2021 est.)

Broadband - fixed subscriptions

total: 64,000 (2020 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 23 (2020 est.)