Case Study: Island of Niue achieves resilient, low-cost nationwide IP communications with Digium

The Power of Asterisk Reaches the south pacific, Connection Obscure Island Nation with the rest of the High Tech World

Challenge Networks, a Melbourne-based telecom integrator and preferred Asterisk reseller, was engaged in 2010 to replace Niue’s aging 1980s PSTN and cyclone-damaged infrastructure on a tiny, remote island of ~2,000 people. The project faced severe constraints: limited NZ government funding, legacy analogue systems (including WWII-era PBX and AMPS/mobile with only three simultaneous calls), difficult logistics (one flight per week), and the need for a maintainable, cyclone‑proof next‑generation network the local team could run.

Challenge Networks built a fully converged NGN centered on Asterisk as an open-source softswitch—deploying MSAN-based voice/ADSL, an ISP module, an IP international gateway (IAX/SIP), and a new 2.5G cellular network that raised mobile capacity from 3 to 112 simultaneous calls. The Asterisk solution enabled number portability, real-time provisioning, legacy protocol conversion, a NOC call‑center PBX, and large OPEX savings by eliminating costly vendor softswitches. The result: modern, island-wide Internet and telephony, reduced operating costs, easier local maintenance, and a resilient platform for future growth.

Island of Niue

Kamal Al-Sabbagh

Challenge Networks Senior Solutions Architect