Fiji is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean about 2,000 km northeast of New Zealand’s North Island, and consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands (of which about 110 are permanently inhabited) and more than 500 islets.
In the early 1990s of the 20th century, there were two telecommunications companies operating in Fiji: Fiji Post & Telecommunications (which became Telecom Fiji in 1996) and Fintel (Fiji International Telecommunications). Both companies issued their first phone cards in 1992 adopting the GPT magnetic system, however the cards were not compatible with each other and needed their own phones.
It was Post & Telecom that issued the first cards, followed by Fintel a few months later: a set of pictorial cards, including a complimentary $1 with a mintage of 9,600, and four values: $2 (50,000), $5 (20,000), $10 (8,000) and $20 (9,000).
During the following years, several charming cards have been issued, which are well known and sought after by world-wide collectors for their beauty and low mintage.
