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OPTCARD & Phonecards
OF FRENCH POLYNESIA |
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| 150th Anniversary of Papeete Post Office |
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| 150th Anniversary of Papeete Post Office |
After the arrival of the first missionaries in 1797, mail was entrusted to the captains of ships calling in Tahiti. As calls were only occasional, it took an average of six to eight months for mail to reach Europe from Tahiti.
Following the signature on 13 November 1859 by Emperor Napoleon III of a decree setting up a postal service between Tahiti and the rest of the world, the first postmaster, Mr. Mieville, was officially appointed on 1 January 1860, and the regulations relating to outgoing and incoming mail were enacted. Therefore that date (1 January 1860) marks the starting point of an organised postal service in Tahiti. Located on Papeete seafront, the first Polynesian Post Office was a wooden house with a pointed roof and a wide veranda. That office was redeveloped on several occasions and was even moved on rails in 1902. At the time, postal delivery was the responsibility of the muto’i (municipal policemen), and mail was delivered in the outer islands by schooners. Since then, postal services have been updated, and each year, 28 million letters, packages and parcels from all around the world are routed, sorted and delivered across all French Polynesia.
The Post and Telecommunications Office (OPT) also keeps developing its network by extending existing local postal branches, but also new constructions, which enable to provide a universal service to the whole population. Up to this day, the OPT network, which covers all five French Polynesian archipelagos, has 84 post offices.
OPT also contributed to modernising the transport of information by connecting all French Polynesian islands to a modern telephone network. In 2010, 150 years after the first exchanges with the rest of the world, the submarine cable HONOTUA will make it possible for each and everyone to send their messages anywhere in the world at the speed of light.
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Number of printings: 20000 |
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Unit price: 1000 FCFP
(8,38 €) |
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