Basics[]
Flag of Samoa
Samoa is an independent island nation in the Pacific ocean. Until 1997, it was officially called Western Samoa, because the Eastern part of the Samoan archipelago is American Samoa, which is an unincorporated territory of the United States.
Samoa uses international country code +685. Its currency is the tālā ($), whose ISO 4217 code is WST, but which is also sometimes written as SAT, ST or T. Operators publish prices prefixed with both $ and WST, but they both mean tālā.
Samoa, with its two main islands Upolu and Savai'i, has two operators:
- Vodafone Samoa (formerly BlueSky Samoa)
- Digicel Samoa
Both operators have 2G/GSM on 900 MHz and 3G/UMTS/HSPA+ on 900 MHz/2100 MHz. 3G/HSPA+ was marketed as a "4G" network, but real 4G/LTE started in 2016 on Digicel using 1800 MHz (B3) band. Make sure that your phone supports 3G/UMTS on both 900 MHz and 2100 MHz frequency bands or you'll get a spotty 3G at best.
Vodafone[]
Vodafone Samoa was formerly called BlueSky. It's now mostly owned by ATH Fiji and the incumbent and bigger provider on the islands. It holds the monopoly as a landline and ADSL supplier, but faces competition from Digicel in the mobile sector. Still, it has the better coverage at slightly higher prices.
Availability[]
Main offices are in Apia and around the islands. Their SIM card is sold for $10 and comes with $5 credit.
Electronic top-ups called e-charge can be bought at many stores throughout Samoa, since the change of name these top-ups can no longer be purchased online. They are sold from $1 to $100 and valid for 30 days each. For balance, dial *888#
Voice and data SIM[]
Data is disabled by default and a package must be activated before data will be activated. These packages are offered:
| Package | Price | Data | Time |
| Malo 11 | $11 | 6 GB | 7 days |
| Mallo 16 | $16 | 9 GB | 7 days |
| Malo 21 | $21 | 10 GB | 7 days |
| Super Data 1 Hour | $1 | 0.5 GB | 1 hour |
| Super Data 1 Day | $3 | 1 GB | 24 hours |
| Super Data 2 Day | $5 | 2 GB | 2 days |
| Super Data 5 Day | $7 | 3 GB | 5 days |
| Super Data Weekly | $10 | 6 GB | 7 days |
| Super Data 15 Day | $20 | 13 GB | 15 days |
| Super Data 28 Day | $50 | 20 GB | 28 days |
| Super Data 28 Day Plus | $100 | 50 GB | 28 days |
To purchase a bundle, you can use the MyVodafone Samoa app or dial *888#.
They have issued special packages for Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Tiktok, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Tourist SIM[]
They also offer tourist SIM cards which include the SIM and a package with local data, calls and texts plus some international minutes. These packs are generally worse value compared to the regular SIMs so are only worth looking at for the included international calls:
| Price | Data | Time |
|---|---|---|
| $25 | 5 GB | 7 days |
| $49 | 12 GB | 14 days |
| $99 | 25 GB | 28 days |
All taxes are included.
Roaming[]
Calls, texts or data use with BlueSky American Samoa (see below) is considered to be roaming and requires a separate bundle, shown below:
- $20: 750 MB, 25 local minutes, 25 minutes back to Vodafone Samoa valid for 30 days
Without this bundle or beyond its data allowance, data is $0.30 per MB.
More info[]
- APN: 4g.vodafone
- Website: https://www.vodafone.com.ws/
Digicel[]
Digicel Samoa is a unit of Digicel Pacific and the only rival of BlueSky in the Western part of Samoa. There are quite visible on the islands, but still have a lower coverage at slightly cheaper prices. They started in 2006 with 2G/GSM and 2012 with 3G/HSPA+ services and in 2016 with 4G/LTE on 1800 MHz (B3) and 700 MHz (B28): LTE coverage map 3G coverage map 2G coverage map.
Digicel Samoa, has completed its network upgrade and covers 100% of the population with its 4G/LTE network in 2020. It has now an estimated coverage of >90% earlier this year, with a focus on Tuasivi, Salelologa, Vaiola, Fa’a’ala, and Upolu (Apia, A’Ana, Mulifanua, and Opulu).
Availability[]
There is a retail kiosk at the Faleolo International Airport. Sales points are in Apia and around: store locator. Sometimes they give out the SIM for free at the airport, at other times you need to pay a few SAT. A new SIM costs $5 with some promotional voice credit but no data credit.
Top-ups can be bought at many stores throughout Samoa as direct top-up from $1, as vouchers called flex cards of $5 and 10 or online .
Data feature packages[]
Out of bundle rate is $0.33 per MB.
The following packages are available:
| Price | Data | Time |
| $3 | 750 MB | 24 hours |
| $7 | 2.5 GB | 5 days |
| $10 | 4 GB | 7 days |
| $20 | 8 GB | 30 days |
| $50 | 20 GB | 30 days |
BIG ON DATA Packages
| Price | Data | Time |
| $5 | 4 GB | 24 hours |
| $10 | 2.5 GB | 5 days |
| $10 | 10 GB | 3 days |
| $20 | 25 GB | 7 days |
To purchase, dial *123#, (for data) and choose the package.
To check money and data balance, dial *130#.
More info[]
- APN: web.digicelsamoa.ws
- Website: http://www.digicelsamoa.com