PNG DataCo Limited has welcomed the launching of the independent National Research Institute report on high internet rates in the country. Managing director, Paul Komboi, said DataCo believes that the cost of internet in PNG is very high and impacts on the growth of the business, delivery of essential government services and general communications. Mr Komboi said the company as a participant in the study accepts the findings as contained in the report adding that they do believe that the restructure of the government’s ICT businesses in Telikom PNG (including its subsidiaries), Bmobile and DataCo into the wholesale and retail segments of the market is a first step to addressing the issue. “DataCo now building the national transmission network is another step to addressing this by investing in a better and modern transmission infrastructure around the country. “With all this happening, we would be on track to address the high wholesale price of internet as we would be able to eliminate duplication of transmission networks that exist today. This would result in stimulating and driving up usage of critical wholesale infrastructure thereby reducing unit costs and this reductions or savings can then be passed down to the retail internet users,” he said. He said that they do believe some of the issues identified are now been addressed through current reforms although implementation is slow in some critical areas. He said DataCo is open to discussions with relevant stakeholders to ensure speedy implementation of this reform as well as collaborative efforts to address other regulatory and policy gaps identified in the report.
He said with regards to NICTA’s establishment of a neutral internet exchange point (IXP) the regulator (NICTA) will need high speed and reliable transmission links between the IXP and the big players within PNG.
“That is where DataCo’s role comes in to provide that transportation layer link using fibre technology that can be able to meet the country’s bandwidth demand and also provide high speed and reliability.
Only when we have abundance capacity in the transport layer we can be able to get more people to use and hence reducing the unit cost per person of the installation and operation of the fibre cable network system,” he said.
