Papua New Guinea (PNG) is unlikely to see drop in the Internet until the country's telecommunication company Telikom PNG market share increases or a new operator enters the market, an official says.
PNG Department of Information and Communications Technology secretary Steven Matainaho said Digicel currently held around 85 per cent of the telecommunications market share.
Matainaho said partial privatisation of Telikom PNG announced by Prime Minister James Marape recently was a critical step towards Telikom becoming more competitive.
“This first step is very important in seeing further reductions of internet prices,” he said.
Matainaho said internet market prices were dependent on market competition.
“Digicel currently holds close to 85 percent of the telco market share, thus, it is unlikely that there will be any reduction until such time that Telikom market share moves up or a new operator enters the market in a strong way,” he said.
“If Telikom could at least get 25 per cent to 30 per cent market share that would be good for competition.
“Retail internet prices are packaged into bundles so it may vary based on how they are packaged.”
Marape said partial privatisation of Telikom was expected to lead to more affordable communication, greater reliability and accessibility.
“Communication and the transfer of information across the country and the region is vital to sustained social economic prosperity,” he said.
The National / #TechPacific
Next : ICT Job : Team Leader - Business Application & Data Management