What have been the most important achievements or milestones this year?
One of the most important milestones has been strengthening our network to meet both today’s needs and what’s coming next. We introduced 5-gigabit internet service on Guam and were the first to roll out 5G mobile locally. We also became the first provider to deliver 10-gigabit fiber-to-the-home using XG-PON technology, which is available in select areas due to the high cost of fiber deployment on islands. At the same time, our HFC network allows us to deliver one-gigabit service island-wide across Guam and the CNMI.

As technology evolves, customers expect more capacity, faster speeds, greater reliability, and broader coverage. A lot of my focus as CEO has been on improving network stability and resilience. That includes major investments in undersea cables—expanding capacity and implementing redundancy. For the CNMI in particular, this past year marked the first time we were able to add true redundancy to an existing cable. Being located in the western Pacific, undersea cables are not optional for us. They are fundamental to our ability to serve customers and support the region’s growth.

Why are undersea cables and network resilience so critical for Guam’s role in the region?
Undersea cables are how the world communicates. Every search, every cloud transaction, every AI query relies on data moving across those cables. Guam has become increasingly important because we are U.S. soil in a strategically sensitive region. That makes us a trusted hub for communications between the United States and Asia.

It’s not just about having cables; it’s about protecting them, building redundancy, and ensuring reliability. We’ve been approached many times over the past few years about capacity, connections, and resilience, especially as military activity in the region continues to expand. If communications were ever severed, everything would be affected—from coordinating defence to maintaining contact with the mainland. Today, people could go without power or water longer than they could go without their phone or internet. Communications are the lifeblood of families, businesses, and national security. Hardening our network means planning for typhoons, power outages, or any disruption, and making sure our systems keep running no matter what.

You made the decision to bring call centre operations back in-house. Why was that so important?
Bringing our call centre back in-house and opening a larger operation in the CNMI is one of the milestones I’m most proud of. Outsourcing may seem more affordable, but it often comes at the expense of service quality and cultural understanding. Local teams know our communities. They understand island geography, local place names, and how we interact with our elders. That makes a real difference when someone calls in frustrated or confused.

This decision was also about economic impact and stability. Jobs in the CNMI are hard to find, and people tend to stay when opportunities are local. We now employ more than 30 people there, and the feedback from customers has been overwhelmingly positive. For me, this was about bringing back localization—bringing back our people and our way of serving customers. It allows us to operate effectively at every level, from international and federal clients to everyday residents who just need help making their technology work.

How are you approaching workforce development in such a small and competitive labor market?
Workforce development is one of the biggest challenges we face as islands. Guam has about 150,000 people, and highly specialized technical skills are not readily available. That’s why we’ve put so much emphasis on building capacity internally. When we bring in contractors, my expectation is very clear: your job is to train our people so that I don’t need you in the long run. We need boots on the ground.

We’ve been working closely with the University of Guam, Guam Community College, and certification partners to create structured training programs for telecom skills. We even pursued federal funding directly to support workforce development in the region. My view is that this isn’t just about Docomo Pacific—it’s about building talent for Guam, the CNMI, and neighboring islands like Palau and Yap. The goal is to create a regional training center that strengthens the entire Pacific telecom ecosystem over time.

What is your message to global investors considering Guam and the CNMI?
Guam offers a unique combination of stability, access, and security. We are U.S. soil, which means clear laws, strong protections, and a stable regulatory environment. At the same time, we are perfectly positioned between Asia and the U.S., with direct connectivity, our own currency, and easy access to both markets.

There’s also a quality of life here that people sometimes underestimate until they experience it. Beyond that, Guam’s role as a secure hub gives investors confidence, especially in sectors tied to manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, or technology. Communications infrastructure is a critical enabler of all of this, and that’s where Docomo Pacific plays a key role. We are building the capacity, resilience, and talent base needed to support long-term investment and growth—not just for today, but for what the region is becoming.