(Photo: Fiji government)

Fiji’s Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama, has said there is interest from regional and religious broadcasters to join Walesi’s digital TV and radio channels, FBC News reports.

Walesi is a government owned digital television company responsible for providing free TV to all Fijians.

Speaking at the handing over of Walesi set top boxes in the town of Seaqaqa, the Prime Minister said the regional interest followed the increasing number of local customers joining the Walesi platform.

“As part of Walesi’s ongoing work to bridge the digital divide for Fijians in line with the Fijian government five-year and 20-year National Development Plan, Walesi has connected 580 communities, villages and schools across the country,” he said.

The government, through Walesi, has so far distributed 218,065 digital terrestrial Walesi set top boxes and 3,164 digital satellite receivers.

Mr Bainimarama said Walesi had successfully deployed several FM radio networks on its platform, including GoldFM, 2DayFM, BulaFM, Radio Fiji One, Radio Fiji Two and Mirchi FM.

Walesi was established in 2015 to handle the deployment and management of the digital television broadcasting platform in Fiji.