Solomon Islands continued to rely exclusively on satellite for its international gateway during 2018. So although domestic costs remained effectively moderated by competition, the country still does not enjoy the benefits which some other Pacific nations have in terms of  faster internet access speed and lower charges for international interconnectivity, because their connections are via high capacity undersea cable.

Notwithstanding the arrival of the planned undersea cables, the established mobile network operators will still require satellite and microwave connectivity for telecommunications distribution around provincial locations. In addition the new international Low Earth Orbit, and Near Earth Orbit constellations will be accessible from throughout Solomon Islands, meaning that local internet connectivity can be achieved without a ubiquitous nationwide network. Moreover the new satellite services will have very low signal latency, making them comparable with cable services for sensitive applications such as financial transactions.