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A Village Fast Internet Kiosk costs K100,000: solar power, a Starlink dish and community Wi-Fi, installed, with a local Konekt agent selling vouchers. Few villages can find that in one go, so from today a kiosk can be hired as well as bought — and both options now run inside the apps rather than on paper.

Hire it, then own it

An organisation — a ward, church, school, landowner company or business — pays a 25% deposit of K25,000. After that, 40% of every voucher used at that kiosk goes automatically to the remaining K75,000, 15% goes to the local agent, and the rest pays for the Starlink plan and support. There is no interest and no premium: when the balance reaches zero, the kiosk is yours.

What an owner earns

Once a kiosk is owned — bought outright or the hire paid off — the owner earns 60% of every voucher used at it. The agent earns 15%, and Blockchain Melanesia keeps 25% to pay for the Starlink plan, support and payments, so the owner has no running costs. Earnings are paid every week into the owner's BM Wallet after BM staff check the week's figures, and can be withdrawn to a bank account through BM Pay. Owners and agents see what they have earned, and what has been paid, under My kiosk in Konekt.

Raise the money together

Families already use WanBung to gather contributions for brideprice and haus krai. The same app now runs kiosk fundraisers: choose whether you are raising the hire deposit (K25,000) or the full price (K100,000), share the link, and wantoks at home and abroad can give. Only money actually paid counts toward the target, after the BM Pay fee, and when it is reached BM takes it as the deposit or payment.

Work out the numbers for your village with the calculator on the village hub page, or see where kiosks are running on the kiosk map.

Konekt and WanBung were the first BM apps you could install straight from the phone's browser. This week Dinau Buk, Rentim, SkulFi, Wan PMV, Bisnis Stoa, Haus Stap and Singsing joined them. Each one has a "Get the app" section on its page with Android and iPhone steps and a QR code, updates itself, and signs in with the same BM ID.

A few details we cared about: SkulFi's first download is under 800 KB so parents on mobile data are not paying for the receipt printer they will never use; Rentim keeps its booking notifications; and every app page shows its latest version, checked against the app itself every week.

Refer & Earn

Know a family, school, business or village that needs internet? Sign in on the Refer & Earn page with your BM ID, and share your link on WhatsApp or Facebook. When someone you referred buys a Starlink kit or bundle, you earn a 14-day Konekt voucher; when a community you referred buys or hires a kiosk, you earn fifteen 28-day vouchers. Only paid orders count, and the page is also in Tok Pisin.

The cheapest thing Blockchain Melanesia sells is a day of internet at a village kiosk. It is also the product that shaped every decision about how we move money — and the clearest way to explain why a company that installs solar panels and Starlink dishes has "blockchain" in its name.

The arithmetic of a small payment

A bank card payment in Papua New Guinea carries a fixed fee of roughly a quarter of a kina before any percentage is added. On a K3,300 Starlink kit that is invisible. On a K2 voucher it is more than a tenth of the price, and it is charged again every time the customer tops up, every time the agent is paid their share, and every time we settle with the site owner. Three or four hops later, a meaningful slice of the village's money has gone to nobody in particular.

The obvious answer is to batch: collect payments into a balance and settle in lumps. That is exactly what the BM wallet does today. Villagers load cash at a Konekt agent, or pay by BSP Pay in one larger amount, and vouchers are deducted from that balance with no per-voucher fee at all. Revenue is recorded in BM's ledger and split with the agent. This works, it is live at two hotspots, and it is the model we will keep running.

What batching cannot do

Batching moves the cost; it does not remove the trust problem. The agent has to trust our ledger for their share. The site owner — a church, a school, a landowner company — has to trust the same ledger for theirs. A donor who funded the kiosk has to take our word for how many sessions it sold. Every one of those parties can ask for a report, and we send one, but a report is a claim, not a proof.

What the village actually needs is a meter: a record of each session that nobody in the chain can quietly change, where the split to agent and owner happens by rule rather than by our monthly good behaviour, and where the cost of writing each record is small enough that a K2 sale can afford it. That is a settlement cost well under one toea per record — sub-toea — or the meter costs more than the voucher.

Why that points at Solana

Most public blockchains cannot do this. A record on Ethereum's main network can cost more than the voucher itself. Solana's transaction fees are a fraction of a US cent, its settlement takes seconds, and it has the deepest stablecoin liquidity of any network the PNG diaspora can reach from Australia or New Zealand. Those three properties — fees below a toea, fast finality, and a way for money to arrive from overseas — are the whole case, and they are why our on-chain roadmap is built there and nowhere else.

It is also why we are honest about sequencing. The on-chain meter is milestone four of our Solana programme, not the current build. Before it, PNGx puts a non-custodial wallet in every BM ID, Invest Antap gives that wallet something useful to hold, and a kina stablecoin proof-of-concept goes to the Bank of Papua New Guinea for review. Each stage ships open source with public numbers. None of it is needed to sell a K2 voucher today; all of it is needed for the village to see, rather than trust, where the money went.

The rule we took from it

If a design cannot survive a K2 transaction, it is the wrong design for rural PNG. That rule has ruled out card-per-transaction pricing, ruled in cash at agents, and set the fee ceiling for anything we put on-chain. It is a small number to build a company around. It is also the number most of our customers earn a living in.

Martin Gould and Christopher Vagalia are the directors and co-founders of Blockchain Melanesia Limited. Programme details are on the Solana programme page; live sites are on Kiosks.

Both apps now install straight from the phone's browser — no app store, no download queue, no update to chase. Open the app, tap "Add to Home Screen", and it sits beside your other apps with its own icon.

We chose this route deliberately. App-store listings take weeks to review and need a new release for every change; an installable web app updates itself the next time it is opened, which matters when the people using it are on patchy 3G with expensive data. Both apps still sign in with a PNG phone number and a one-time code, and both run on the same BM ID.

Konekt (v0.2.9)

Buy a Wi-Fi bundle for a community hotspot, top up at a local agent or from your bank, gift a bundle to a wantok, and see which hotspots are live near you. The "Get the app" section on konekt.blockchainmelanesia.com has the install steps and a QR code.

WanBung (v1.9.0)

Organise a brideprice or haus krai, and let family and wantoks pledge and pay in kina. September also brought two changes organisers had asked for: a pledge can now be confirmed by the organiser, and a wantok can change or cancel a pledge — with the organiser's approval once it has been confirmed. Install from wanbung.blockchainmelanesia.com.

In September, real kina started moving through BM Pay — the single payment connection every Blockchain Melanesia app shares. Konekt switched on first (15 September), WanBung followed, and on 23 September the store took its first order paid through BSP Pay.

For a customer it is simple: choose BSP Pay at checkout, enter your BSP customer number, approve with the one-time code sent to your phone, and the order or voucher is confirmed within seconds. No card details are typed into a phone, and people without a bank account can still pay in cash at a Konekt agent.

Why one connection matters

Each app connecting to the bank on its own would mean separate paperwork, separate fees and separate reconciliation for every product. BM Pay does it once, so a new app — or a new store — gets bank payments on day one, and every payment lands in one ledger that staff reconcile from BM Dash.

The first live transactions were deliberately small — kina-one test orders paid by our own team — so every step from checkout to settlement could be checked before larger amounts follow. They settled correctly, and BSP Pay is now the first option on every checkout.

Our first two Konekt community hotspots are online. The Tabubil Hospital site in Western Province and the Kennedy site in the National Capital District both went live in mid-September, running the same kit: solar power, a Starlink dish and managed community Wi-Fi, all run through Konekt.

Every kit is fully tested before it ships — including a real phone buying and using a voucher — so the work on site is installation, not troubleshooting.

How people get online

• Connect to the Konekt Wi-Fi network. The kiosk's free landing page opens even without a voucher.
• Sign in with your phone number and buy a bundle — from K2 for an hour to K60 for a month; a Day Pass is K5 — from your BM wallet or by BSP Pay. Or buy one in cash from the local Konekt agent.
• Your phone is online. A part-used bundle keeps working at any other Konekt hotspot.

What is next

A third kit, for Okma village, is packed and waiting for commissioning. The hotspots also report their sessions to BM Dash, so as the numbers build we will publish them on the Impact page rather than estimate them here.

Connecting Communities & Delivering Impact — Blockchain Melanesia Limited × Niubalus Logistics Limited in Western Province

At Blockchain Melanesia Limited, we believe meaningful development happens when connectivity and logistics work hand-in-hand. That’s why our collaboration with Niubalus Logistics Limited in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea is more than a partnership — it’s a model for inclusive, community-centered transformation.

Western Province is one of PNG’s most geographically vast and traditionally underserved regions. Rivers, swamps, and remote settlements make physical access difficult — and essential services like healthcare, education, and commerce even harder to deliver consistently. It’s exactly this challenge that our collaboration aims to address.

Why This Partnership Matters

Niubalus Logistics Limited has deep expertise in last-mile delivery solutions across challenging terrains. They have demonstrated operational excellence in getting critical goods — including medical supplies, essential commodities, and community assets — into places where traditional transport networks rarely reach.

Blockchain Melanesia Limited brings digital connectivity to the equation by establishing Internet Kiosks and community WiFi hubs powered by satellite broadband and sustainable energy systems. Together, we are bridging physical and digital divides simultaneously.

What We Are Doing Together in Western Province

Connected Health Initiatives

Rural health posts equipped with reliable internet can now perform telemedicine consultations, send real-time patient data, and coordinate with provincial hospitals — dramatically improving healthcare outcomes.

Remote Education Support

Through community WiFi zones and digital classroom access, students across villages now have access to curriculum resources, online learning platforms, and exam preparation tools — opening up pathways that were previously unreachable.

Digital Logistics & Supply Chain Integration

With connectivity, Niubalus Logistics can optimize routes, track deliveries, and communicate with field teams in remote areas — making supply chains more efficient, transparent, and responsive to community needs.

Economic Participation through Digital Platforms

Local entrepreneurs and producers now have opportunities to participate in digital marketplaces, access financial services, and showcase products beyond their immediate geography.

Sustainable Infrastructure for Lasting Impact

This partnership emphasizes sustainable deployment:

• Solar Powered Kiosks — Ensuring connectivity even in off-grid areas.
• Satellite Broadband (Starlink and alternatives) — Overcoming terrain and infrastructure limitations.
• Local Capacity Building — Training community champions to maintain and operate digital resources.

What This Means for Western Province

• Reduced isolation through reliable communication
• Better healthcare outcomes with telehealth support
• Enhanced learning opportunities for students
• Improved logistics for essential goods
• Stronger local economies and digital inclusion

Together, Blockchain Melanesia Limited and Niubalus Logistics Limited are redefining what development looks like in rural Papua New Guinea — not through one-off projects, but through integrated, sustainable systems that empower communities from within.

Connectivity and logistics aren’t just infrastructure — they are lifelines. And in the Western Province, they are now becoming realities.

At Blockchain Melanesia Limited, we believe that Starlink’s satellite broadband technology represents the most viable path forward for closing Papua New Guinea’s digital divide — especially in rural and remote communities.

Papua New Guinea’s rugged terrain, scattered islands, and vast inland areas have long made traditional broadband infrastructure expensive and slow to deploy. Fibre optic and mobile networks simply can’t reach every village — but satellite connectivity can. Low Earth Orbit (LEO) systems like Starlink are uniquely suited to reach every corner of this country.

Here’s why we see Starlink as a foundational solution for rural PNG:

Universal Coverage Where Others Can’t Reach

Starlink’s constellation of satellites provides global coverage, capable of delivering broadband connectivity in regions where fibre, mobile, or microwave networks are impractical. This means villages in the Highlands, Sepik, Gulf, and island provinces can finally be connected with reliable internet — something that was previously out of reach for many communities.

High-Speed, Low-Latency Internet

Unlike traditional geostationary satellites that have significant delays, Starlink’s LEO satellites deliver internet with much lower latency and real-world speeds capable of supporting video conferencing, telemedicine, online learning, and digital markets. This makes services that were once considered luxuries daily necessities.

Boost for Healthcare and Education

With Starlink-enabled connectivity, rural clinics can support telemedicine consultations, remote diagnostics, and real-time data sharing. Schools can access virtual classrooms, digital textbooks, and teacher training platforms — transforming education outcomes for PNG’s youth. This is not just connectivity; this is better quality of life.

Economic and Social Development

Reliable internet opens the door for local entrepreneurs to engage in e-commerce, digital banking, and remote work opportunities. Small businesses can reach broader markets, and agricultural communities can tap into real-time market pricing, weather updates, and supply chain coordination — turning connectivity into tangible economic benefits.

Scalable, Resilient, Future-Ready Infrastructure

By integrating Starlink with our Internet Kiosks and community WiFi initiatives — powered with solar energy where grid power isn’t available — we’re building sustainable, locally managed digital ecosystems that can support long-term growth. This resilience is essential in a country prone to natural disasters and infrastructure challenges.

We acknowledge that the regulatory landscape for Starlink in PNG has been complex, with licensing processes and authorisations still evolving. However, the potential impact of responsibly implementing satellite broadband remains clear — and it aligns with national development goals, educational access, healthcare equity, economic inclusion, and disaster-resilient communications.

At Blockchain Melanesia Limited, we are ready to partner with communities, regulators, and stakeholders to harness Starlink’s capabilities in a way that is compliant, sustainable, and transformative. Because in a nation defined by its diversity and geography, connectivity should be a right — not a privilege.

Rural education in Papua New Guinea stands at a critical turning point.

Across remote districts of Papua New Guinea, thousands of students attend schools with limited textbooks, minimal access to updated curriculum materials, and little exposure to digital tools. In many communities, teachers work in isolation without access to professional development or modern teaching resources. Geography has long defined opportunity — and too often, limited it.

But that reality can change.

Reliable internet connectivity is not just about browsing or social media. In rural PNG, it is the bridge between isolation and opportunity.

With stable broadband access, rural schools can:

• Access up-to-date curriculum resources
• Download digital textbooks and learning materials
• Participate in virtual classrooms and national revision sessions
• Connect students to global learning platforms
• Provide teachers with online training and certification programs

This is where Blockchain Melanesia Limited is stepping forward.

Through our solar-powered Internet Kiosks and community WiFi initiatives powered by LEO satellite technology, we are transforming rural communities into digital learning hubs. These kiosks are not simply access points — they are education enablers.

A connected rural school can introduce:

• E-learning platforms for STEM education
• Online exam preparation tools
• Digital literacy training
• Coding and technology exposure for young students
• Remote mentoring from educators in urban centers

For a nation where terrain makes infrastructure expensive and slow to deploy, satellite-powered connectivity removes the dependency on traditional fiber rollouts. Solar integration ensures sustainability even in off-grid communities.

Education should not be determined by geography.

When a child in a remote village has the same digital access as a student in Port Moresby, we begin to level the playing field. We begin to unlock national potential.

Blockchain Melanesia Limited believes that rural connectivity is not just an ICT project — it is a nation-building strategy.

The future of PNG will be shaped by how well we connect our rural classrooms today.

Telemedicine is no longer a luxury for Papua New Guinea — it is a national necessity.

Across rural and remote provinces, access to doctors, specialists, and diagnostic services remains one of our greatest healthcare challenges. Many communities must travel for hours — sometimes days — by boat, vehicle, or foot just to reach the nearest health center. In emergency situations, these delays can be life-threatening.

This is where reliable internet connectivity becomes transformational.

With stable broadband access, rural clinics can connect directly with specialists in Port Moresby or even overseas. Nurses can share patient data securely, doctors can conduct virtual consultations, and communities can receive timely diagnoses without leaving their villages. Telemedicine reduces travel costs, saves time, improves early detection, and strengthens our entire healthcare system.

Blockchain Melanesia Limited is helping make this vision a reality.

Through our rural Internet Kiosks and community WiFi initiatives powered by LEO satellite technology and solar energy solutions, we are bringing stable, high-speed connectivity to underserved areas. These solar-powered kiosks are not just internet access points — they are digital service hubs.

With connectivity in place, rural health posts can:

• Conduct video consultations with doctors
• Access cloud-based medical records
• Receive digital prescriptions and referrals
• Participate in remote training and continuous medical education
• Monitor chronic patients using connected health devices

In addition to telemedicine, these same connectivity hubs enable e-learning for students, digital financial inclusion, government service access, and local entrepreneurship. This is infrastructure that multiplies impact.

For a country like Papua New Guinea — where geography is one of our greatest barriers — digital connectivity removes distance as a limitation.

Healthcare should not depend on postcode.

By integrating internet access, solar power, and community-driven deployment models, Blockchain Melanesia Limited is building the foundation for a digitally inclusive rural PNG — where healthcare, education, and opportunity are accessible to all.

The future of rural healthcare is connected.