Astca has thirteen (13) central office (CO) stations located strategically throughout american samoa ten (10) are located in the main island of tutuila, two (2) in the manua islands of OFU and TAU,…

The U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) awarded a $160,250 Project Grant under the Economic, Social, and Political Development of the Territories program (CFDA 15.875) to the American Samoa Telecommunications Authority (ASTCA). The grant funding will support the replacement and addition of battery banks and DC power supply units for ASTCA's smaller capacity central office stations across American Samoa. These central office stations provide the critical "last-mile" telecommunications connectivity for federal agencies, local government, businesses, and residents in the U.S. territory. The upgrades to the backup power systems will enhance the reliability and resilience of ASTCA's telecommunications infrastructure, particularly during power outages and disaster events, ensuring continuity of essential communications services including support for first responders.

Astca has thirteen (13) central office (CO) stations located strategically throughout american samoa ten (10) are located in the main island of tutuila, two (2) in the manua islands of OFU and TAU, and one (1) on aunuu island. The CO station are hardened concrete buildings that provide the last mile connection between astcas (service provider) network and the territory residents, businesses and government facilities both federal and local. The last-mile infrastructure is closest to the customers facility, this is where the network fans out to reach all the endpoints (e.g. homes, devices, businesses). The last-mile and the CO stations that support IT is the key to enabling high-capacity telecommunications services, an also future next-generation technologies.astcas CO station hardware that supports the last mile connection are mostly powered by a 48 volts DC power supply that is powered off the utility, and backed up by battery banks, and standby generators. The telecommunications field utilizes 48 volts DC as the standard voltage to power up most telecom equipment. During a utility power outage, the battery bank would provide backup DC power for the duration of the time IT takes the backup generator to start and switch over which is normally within 9-seconds. The battery bank will also supply DC power when the utility grid comes back online and the generator switches off so there is no interruption of power at all to the vital last-mile network equipment inside the CO stations.due to the harsh tropical environment and frequent power outages experienced in american samoa, battery banks in several COS have been failing, including the DC power supply units. Astca is looking at replacing and adding additional battery banks and DC power supply units for its smaller capacity COS. The required DC power supply units and battery banks would help provide a more robust backup power system for the small capacity COS that supports all last-mile telecommunications connectivity, including firsnet (first responder) sites and the rest of astcas residential, commercial and government customers. These CO sites would provide vital communications links for first responders during times of disasters as well as the continuation of telecommunications and broadband services for american samoan residents during these difficult times where IT is a matter of life and death. Astca plans to install new battery banks and DC power supplies for the following small capacity COS:1.leone CO2.taputimu CO3.olotele CO4.fagaitua CO5.alofau CO6.aunuu CO7.TAU CO8.OFU CO