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Sports |
Telikom trying to delay competition
THE headline, “Telikom blocks mobile
licences”, may be misleading to the general public as many would
not fully understand the regulations governing the
telecommunications industry.
Reading the article, I believe it would have been more accurate to
say that Telikom PNG is trying to delay competition.
Since its incorporation, Telikom has enjoyed a monopoly.
Three years ago, Telikom consented to have the monopoly end by
March 2007.
With Digicel and Dawamiba coming into the picture, Telikom is now
trying to revoke that consent and wants to remain the sole
operator until such time that it believes it is ready for
competition.
But when will that be?
In respect of licensing, there are two main issues that are not
clearly highlighted to the general public with regards to
telecommunication deregulation.
That could be in the internet industry, telephony whether local or
international and mobile telephony.
In our case today, mobile telephony is the first to be
deregulated.
There are two key stakeholders that hold the keys to deregulation
– the ICCC and Pangtel.
In terms of licences, there are two components.
Licence or right to do business in the telecommunication industry
namely providing mobile telephony services and licence or right to
use the radio frequencies in a certain geographical area – in this
case around PNG.
The right to be another mobile operator has already been granted
by ICCC to Digicel and Dawamiba PNG Ltd.
The right to use allocated frequencies is still a grey and
open area. Only the Pangtel board has the power to grant that.
To date, we are only discussing about the right to do business and
the real crunch is the radio frequency licence-granting by the
Pangtel board.
Apart from the frequency, numbering plans will be an issue as
well.
What numbering code and dialling plans will Digicel and Dawamiba
use?
I believe Pangtel has just completed an open survey for feedback
on the numbering plans.
The National Executive Council (NEC) has yet to appoint a new
Pangtel board and why is that?
As such, there is no one to approve the fees and frequency licence.
Is it true then that the NEC is indeed deregulating the mobile
phone industry?
Telikom is 100%-owned by the Government and Digicel poses a very
big threat.
If Telikom sinks, CEO David Waterhouse and his team will be shown
the door.
PNGEAN Telco Consultant
Port Moresby
 
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