Internet access has increased 20-fold and broadband costs have fallen by 99% on the archipelago of Micronesia thanks to the ending of government monopoly in the sector. Made up of more than 600 small islands spread across 2.9 million km² of ocean, telecommunications is both complicated and absolutely necessary on the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). For decades, FSM had had but one single telecom provider: FSM Telecommunications Corporation, a government-granted monopoly established in 1984 to provide fixed-line, mobile, and internet across the islands. LIFE ON THE ISLANDS:It used to cost $705 per megabyte-per-second to use mobile internet data. The World Bank has contributed funding and support to a next-level integration of telecom technology across FSM through its Digital FSM Project, which launched in 2020.