SYDNEY, May 17, 2019 – Speedcast International Limited (ASX: SDA), the world’s most trusted provider of remote communication and IT solutions, today announced that it is providing the Western Highlands Provincial Health Authority, in Papua New Guinea, with a custom private C-band VSAT network for more reliable, cost-effective connectivity for several local hospitals. This solution will ensure consistent internet service and reliable hospital to hospital communications.
Western Highlands Provincial Health Authority required high-availability internet and a WAN connectivity solution at Mount Hagen Hospital in Papua New Guinea (PNG), as well as at other district and provisional hospitals.
Speedcast worked with Western Highlands Provincial Health Authority to develop a customized MESH solution that guarantees service uptime of 99.5% availability. The solution will bring reliable connectivity to each hospital and also allow district and provisional hospitals to connect to Mount Hagen Hospital. In the first stage of the project, Speedcast will provide 10/10 Mbps of internet connectivity to Mount Hagen Hospital. Next, Speedcast will install a Mini-HUB solution to connect the remaining district and provisional hospitals.
“Speedcast worked closely with us to create a solution that would fit our specific connectivity and budget requirements,” said the Chief Executive Officer of the Western Highlands Provincial Health Authority, David Vorst. “Thanks to Speedcast’s help, we can now bring a much-needed, reliable internet connection to Mt. Hagen and connect to our other Western Highlands regional and provincial hospitals reliably and at high speed”. Mr. Vorst went on to say that telemedicine, teleradiology and telepathology are important aspects of quality patient care and become extremely critical in countries such as PNG where there are few specialist doctors outside Port Moresby. For example, the Speedcast network allows doctors to send x-ray or ultrasound images to anywhere in the world so they can have these reported to support the diagnosis made by clinicians in areas where there are no radiologists.
“Since the Western Highlands province is in a very remote location within PNG, we decided a customized satellite network would provide the most reliable connectivity solution for the staff and patients at hospitals in the Western Highlands,” said Erwan Emilian, EVP Enterprise & Emerging Markets, at Speedcast. “We look forward to continuing to assist Western Highlands Provincial Health Authority with their critical operations.”