Cook Islands
Power & telecom standards in Cook Islands
Connectivity Overview
Tempest Telecom offered satellite-only service in Cook Islands. Iridium satellite Internet and Voice access was available for communications in rural areas without infrastructure.
Cook Islands uses 240V at 50Hz. Power outlets are type I and telephone jacks are RJ-11.
Dial-up Internet Access
Dial-up access was not available in Cook Islands. Satellite Internet was the recommended alternative.
WiFi Hotspot Access
WiFi hotspot access was not available through Tempest in Cook Islands.
Adapters & Power
Travelers from North America will need a power plug adapter. European Type C/F adapters are widely compatible.
Standard RJ-11 jacks are used. Most international modems will connect without an adapter.
Cook Islands at a Glance
- Capital
- Avarua
- Phone Code
- +682
- Voltage
- 240V / 50Hz
- Power Plug
- I
- Phone Jack
- RJ-11
- Currency
- NZD
- Dial-up
- N/A
- WiFi
- N/A
About connectivity in Cook Islands
The Cook Islands use 240V/50Hz with the Type I plug — reflecting the territory's position as a self-governing state in free association with New Zealand. The phone jack is RJ-11. Bluesky Cook Islands (formerly Telecom Cook Islands) is the dominant operator alongside Vodafone Cook Islands.
Cook Islands commercial Internet emerged in the late 1990s. The territory's extreme geographic dispersion (population ~15,000 spread across 15 inhabited islands) shaped infrastructure development.
The Cook Islands prepaid international calling-card market through the 2000s served the substantial Cook Islands Māori diaspora — concentrated in New Zealand (the Cook Islands diaspora in NZ substantially exceeds the resident population) and Australia.
Tempest Telecom served the Cook Islands through dial-up POPs in Rarotonga. The South Pacific maritime industry and the tourism sector sustained Iridium demand.
Modern Cook Islands has expanding 4G LTE coverage with FTTH concentrated in Rarotonga.
Tempest's services across Cook Islands, 1997–2012
Tempest Telecommunications operated international connectivity services in Cook Islands between 1997 and 2012 under a unified prepaid account that absorbed multiple service types onto a single customer credential. Customers in Cook Islands drew from the same balance for pre-paid international voice calling, RADIUS-authenticated dial-up Internet roaming, metered Wi-Fi hotspot access, Iridium satellite voice, and Inmarsat BGAN data terminals. An attempted kiosk-payment federation (PATN, 1998) extended the same architecture to public Internet terminals but failed to reach scale.
Iridium satellite voice was available in Cook Islands from approximately 2001 (post-bankruptcy relaunch). Thuraya coverage did not extend to Cook Islands; Inmarsat BGAN data terminals filled the broadband gap from late 2005.
Nearby countries in Oceania
American Samoa · Australia · Christmas Island · Cocos (Keeling) Islands · Fiji · French Polynesia · Guam · Kiribati