New Caledonia

Settled by both Britain and France during the first half of the 19th century, the island became a French possession in 1853. It served as a penal colony for four decades after 1864. Agitation for independence during the 1980s and early 1990s ended in the 1998 Noumea Accord, which over two decades transferred an increasing amount of governing responsibility from France to New Caledonia. In a referendum held in November 2018, residents rejected independence and decided to retain their territorial status, although two additional referendums may occur in 2020 and 2022, per the Noumea Accord.

description:

• unicameral Territorial Congress or Congrès du Territoire (54 seats; members indirectly selected proportionally by the partisan makeup of the 3 Provincial Assemblies or Assemblés Provinciales; members of the 3 Provincial Assemblies directly elected by proportional representation vote; members serve 5-year terms);
• note - the Customary Senate is the assembly of the various traditional councils of the Kanaks, the indigenous population, which rules on laws affecting the indigenous population

; New Caledonia indirectly elects 2 members to the French Senate by an electoral colleges for a 6-year term with one seat renewed every 3 years and directly elects 2 members to the French National Assembly by absolute majority vote in 2 rounds if needed for a 5-year term

elections:

Territorial Congress - last held on 12 May 2019 (next to be held in May 2024); French Senate - election last held on 24 September 2017 (next to be held not later than 2019); French National Assembly - election last held on 11 and 18 June 2017 (next to be held by June 2022)

election results:

• Territorial Congress - percent of vote by party - N/A;
• seats by party -Future With Confidence 18, UNI 9, UC 9, CE 7, FLNKS 6, Oceanic Awakening 3, PT 1, LKS 1 (Anti-Independence 28, Pro-Independence 26);
• composition - men 30, women 24, percent of women 44.4%

; French Senate - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - UMP 2; French National Assembly - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - CE 2

name:

"Soyons unis, devenons freres" (Let Us Be United, Let Us Become Brothers)

lyrics/music:

Chorale Melodia (a local choir)

note: adopted 2008; contains a mixture of lyrics in both French and Nengone (an indigenous language); as a self-governing territory of France, in addition to the local anthem,

"La Marseillaise" is official (see France)

New Caledonia has 11% of the world's nickel reserves, representing the second largest reserves on the planet. Only a small amount of the land is suitable for cultivation, and food accounts for about 20% of imports. In addition to nickel, substantial financial support from France - equal to more than 15% of GDP - and tourism are keys to the health of the economy.

With the gradual increase in the production of two new nickel plants in 2015, average production of metallurgical goods stood at a record level of 94 thousand tons. However, the sector is exposed to the high volatility of nickel prices, which have been in decline since 2016. In 2017, one of the three major mining firms on the island, Vale, put its operations up for sale, triggering concerns of layoffs ahead of the 2018 independence referendum.

general assessment:

• well advanced telecoms sector;
• 3G & 4G network services;
• one of the highest smart phone adoption rates in the region;
• telecommunications sector is dominated by govt. owned company with a monopoly on fixed and mobile services, Internet and broadband access (2020)

domestic:

fixed-line 29 per 100 and mobile-cellular telephone subscribership 96 per 100 persons (2019)

international:

• country code - 687;
• landing points for the Gondwana-1 and Picot-1 providing connectivity via submarine cables around New Caledonia and to Australia;
• satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Pacific Ocean) (2019)

note: the COVID-19 outbreak is negatively impacting telecommunications production and supply chains globally; consumer spending on telecom devices and services has also slowed due to the pandemic's effect on economies worldwide;

overall progress towards improvements in all facets of the telecom industry - mobile, fixed-line, broadband, submarine cable and satellite - has moderated