Talks on interconnecting successful

THE ongoing review of the new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) policy should not prevent interconnection, Digicel PNG Ltd head of marketing Anurag Borkar said yesterday.
Digicel had asked Telecommunications Minister Patrick Tammur to intervene on several occasions but was informed that it was a commercial negotiation.
“We are delighted to hear that the minister had now decided to intervene and set a deadline for interconnection,” Mr Borkar said.
“The timing of interconnection is totally in Telikom’s hands. We are ready to interconnect tomorrow.”
Digicel has sought to interconnect with Telikom’s network as far back as last April and was in a technical position to do so upon its launch last July.
“This was why we cannot understand why they had been so slow to interconnect. They are losing a massive revenue,” he said.
Nevertheless, Digicel continues to be involved with interconnection negotiations with Telikom, Mr Borkar said, adding it is a very frustrating for Digicel, its customers and those of Telikom.
“The international benchmark was to interconnect within two to three months.
“It is now almost nine months. That should speak for itself.”
Industry sources said talks aimed at achieving interconnectivity between Telikom and the new mobile phone carriers could be successfully concluded by Jan 31.
A source said interconnectivity was a very complex commercial issue with all carriers needing to ensure that they do not make a loss when carrying a carrier’s calls, particularly when time and distance are factored.
In fact, sources said it was Digicel which was seeking to slow down the process of interconnectivity, because it was currently enjoying a profitable share of the international gateway market.
ICCC had previously granted Digicel a temporary permit to conduct its own international gateway because of lack of interconnectivity.
As soon as interconnectivity terms were agreed upon, all rights to international call carriage would revert to Telikom as the only holder of General Carrier’s Licence, causing Digicel to lose its temporary access to this source of revenue, sources said.
The issue of eight-digit numbers was not an obstacle to interconnectivity, as had been suggested.
Telikom stated to its business customers that they could take up to 12 months to achieve the changeover of their stationary, advertising, directory listings and websites to accommodate the change to eight-digit numbers.
Mr Tammur had publicly given his assurance that interconnection between incumbent Telikom PNG and the two new entrants – Digicel and Green Communications – would happen by the end of this month.