Dot TK, Registry Agent for Internet domains of the South Pacific island of Tokelau (.tk), announced today that it finalized the first high-speed Internet connectivity on Fakaofo, one of the three atolls of Tokelau. Now the locals have access to a wealth of information to bring them closer to the rest of the world.

AMSTERDAM (PRWEB) February 23, 2004--Dot TK, the exclusive Registry Agent for Internet domains of the South Pacific island of Tokelau (.tk), announced today that it finalized the first high-speed Internet connectivity on Fakaofo, one of the three atolls of Tokelau.

People in Tokelau live their lives differently from anyone else in the world. That's not surprising, considering the nearest populated island is a 42-hour boat ride away. The spirit of the island is to divide all the goods equally amongst its 1500 inhabitants. In the spirit of the Free Domain Name registration concept of Dot TK, the 500 people that live on Fakaofo can use the Internet at no cost at Tokelau's first local Internet café. For the people of Fakaofo, this was the first time they would see a webpage. So surfing the web is now a new activity for the people of Fakaofo, opening the door to a wealth of information for the world's smallest country. This connection will introduce possibilities for distance learning and access to telemedicine, but above all, it's another means of communication. Inhabitants of Tokelau are not allowed to view adult-related content since it goes against their religious beliefs.

"Since our journey to the islands in September of 2003, we have been in constant contact with the people there and with Intelsat, the satellite provider. Today we can finally announce that we have established a stable link between Los Angeles, USA, and Fakaofo, on a speed that is similar to a normal DSL or cable modem connection", says Joost Zuurbier, one of the founders of Dot TK.

The Internet connection was not always so fast. When the connection was first enabled, the people of Fakaofo had a speed of only 9,600 bits per second. This has now increased 40 times to 384,000 bits per second.

The funds needed for this project are raised by the Foundation Tokelau, a special fund that is dedicated to raising money for the islands in return for the license rights to domain names that are trademarks of Fortune 500 companies. Dot TK has set aside many of the Fortune 500 company trademark names in the hopes that these companies will come forward and register these names for a fee. This fee goes toward the Tokelau Internet Project with the goal of providing high-speed Internet access to all three of Tokelau's atolls.

Dot TK firmly believes that the Internet should be free to everyone and it is that philosophy which is behind the company's business of offering free domain names to people all over the world. Since its official launch in March 2002, Dot TK has registered more than 600,000 free domain names and has offices in San Francisco, USA and Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

For more information:
Ian Lockhart
Dot TK
http://www.dot.tk
Tel. +31 20 531 5726
Fax +31 20 531 5721

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