Special Challenges facing Smart Solomon Islands:

• Solomon Islands population of roughly 0.6 million people is spread around 900 small islands in a 10,000 square mile (roughly 100 mile x 100 mile) geographical area in the vicinity of Indonesia.
• The populations in the small islands are so small that most of them do not have schools beyond primary education and virtually no healthcare facilities.
• The population is generally poor, with many people living with less than USD 100 per month.
• The telecommunications infrastructure is very limited and the costs are extremely high (around USD 1K per month) for a 1Mbps line.
• The capital city, Honiara, is the only “developed” city with decent schools and healthcare facilities. But Honiara has only 15% of the Solomons population – 85% of the population lives in the 900 islands.