THE Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (ICCC) said yesterday Papua New Guinea’s new private mobile phone operators, Digicell and Greencom, are investing millions of kina to roll out their networks.
Rather than being a threat to Telikom PNG, as alleged by Telikom PNG acting managing director Peter Loko, operations of these two companies would increase Telikom’s revenues, ICCC chief executive Thomas Abe said yesterday in a statement.
They are also paying a considerable sum to the people of PNG for the right to have a mobile telecommunications licence in this country.
Mr Abe said that there would be no free access to the Telikom network as Telikom would be charging the two new mobile companies for use of the communications network and will be earning additional revenue for the network services it provides.
The bigger advantage of this arrangement is that Telikom will receive an even bigger revenue stream from the introduction of competition.
In the same way as service have taken off in every other country, where this service has been opened up to competition, so too in PNG where it can be expected there would be a considerable expansion in use of mobile phones as new service operators commence their activities,” Mr Abe said.
He said Telikom would receive a share of the cost of every mobile call made regardless of what carrier was used.
Mr Abe said Mr Loko was focused on the negatives of competition based on wrong information and had failed to provide the whole story in a statement that was published in The National yesterday.
He also said the advice by the Ethan group had been based on wrong information with no financial modeling undertaken to show that Telikom would suffer because of competition.
Mr Abe said the ICCC had obtained advice and assistance from a reputable international advisory firm to conduct financial modelling exercises as well as advice from an international telecommunications technical consulting firm to address matters relating to Telikom’s ability to interconnect with the new services providers.
Mr Loko also fails to understand that the current telecommunication framework and PNG’s competition law (ICCC Act 2002) does not allow one mobile company simply to sell its business to another competitor.
There is a very rigorous process under the ICCC Act that would require the competition and the economy of any proposal for an existing mobile operator to sell its business to a competitor in PNG,” Mr Abe said.
He said the public should also be made aware that the two new mobile companies were required to roll out their networks to all the major cities, towns and districts of PNG.
In total, the commission has designated 229 minimum locations in PNG, where the mobile networks are to be rolled out over the next five years… the new entrants are likely to achieve this roll out well within this time period,” Mr Abe stated.

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