Some 130 years after the British government claimed the island of Tristan da Cunha as part of its empire, the South Atlantic territory is being officially welcomed to the 21^st century, too, thanks to Loral Skynet and Global Crossing.

Deemed by the Guinness Book of World Records as "the remotest inhabited island in the world," the seat of a four-island archipelago is due to finally be included in the British Government’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s satellite-based communications network. Loral Skynet and Global Crossing announced Aug. 31 they were teaming to provide extension of the U.K.’s global-communications network (with infrastructure already in 140 countries) to include the territory.

Located some 6,000 miles from the United Kingdom and 1,750 miles from Cape Town, South Africa (whence the islanders receive their sea-snail mail through the vagaries of ship schedules), Tristan da Cunha is named for a Portuguese navigator who reportedly discovered the island in 1506 without ever bothering to land on it.

Through connection to the U.K.’s Foreign and Commonwealth Telecommunications Network (FTN), the island’s current inhabitants — who live by farming, lobster-fishing and crayfishing, island administration or tourism – are finding much-improved Internet access and a reduction in their dependence on costly, low-level communications.

"The connection to the FTN is very good news for us," island administrator Mike Hentley said via e-mail. "Our previous communications links were of limited capacity, and so expensive that many of the islanders here could not afford to use them on a regular basis.

"The FTN link gives us much more capacity," he added, and "each government department will now have its own direct e-mail and telephone links [enabling] more effective and efficient communications with suppliers and customers both internal and external."

The island’s first Internet caf� already is proving popular for its online access and affordable telephone services. Plans are in the works for the school to develop distance- learning programs, and the local hospital has established a project with IBM’s Global Wellbeing Service to provide Tristan’s medical officer with online consultancy services to assist with local patient care.

–J.J. McCoy