Wallis and Futuna

The Samoa Submarine Cable Company said Samoa, Fiji, and Wallis and Futuna are now inter-connected via the undersea optical fibre system which spans more than 1,470 kilometres.

Samoa's Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Afamasaga Rico Tupa'i, said it's a significant milestone for the project to bring high speed broadband to everyone in Samoa.

The new internet connection is expected to be operational next month.

This was announced after talks with a visiting senior French government official Sebastien Lecornu who said Wallis and Futuna wants to be at the forefront.

Mr Lecornu, who is the secretary of state for technological transition, says 90 percent of electricity is being produced with fossil fuels but that will drop to 50 percent by 2030.

He says a new economic model will be drawn up in broad discussions to provide a development partnership between the state and private sides.

Photo: PHOTO NZ

The island of 5,000 people had been on lockdown for nearly three days as the category two storm passed close to the northern coast.

Residents were forced to stay indoors and all movement had been banned.

But with the cyclone now about 100km away, the alerts were lifted on Saturday night.

Wallis and Futuna's public broadcaster reported that power was cut, roofs were damaged and some areas flooded, but there was so far no major damage.

The cyclone is forecast to slowly move west, maintaining its category two strength.