| Sports |
The mobile phone
war of PNG
By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
THE mobile phone controversy in Papua New Guinea has shown us a
classic case of how the government could dishonour a major policy
and shame itself in front of the global community just to protect
a pet business interest. It boils down to one thing: Profit.
Mobile phone company “B” Mobile is the most jealously-guarded
enterprise in Papua New Guinea. A subsidiary of the
government-controlled telephone company Telikom PNG, “B” Mobile is
a big revenue source of the government, contributing a heap to the
phone company’s 2007 revenue of K347 million (US$114 million)
which delivered a hefty pre-audit profit of over K100 million
(US$32 million).
That’s why when Jamaica-based mobile phone provider Digicel rolled
out its service on Friday with offerings of cheaper, more
efficient, customer-friendly services and latest technology, the
Somare government immediately sprung into action with sheer
precision by revoking the few-days old spectrum licence issued to
the telco and ordered it to immediately stop operations.
This was the second time inside two weeks that the government had
tried to put Digicel out of business by canceling its operating
licence. This came despite the Prime Minister, Sir Michael
Somare’s assurance to Seamus Lynch, Digicel Group board director,
last March that the telco’s investment and its licence to operate
in PNG were protected. The order to cancel the telco’s licence
came from the Prime Minister’s son, Arthur Somare, minister of
Public Enterprise, Information and Development,
In a letter dated July 20, the day that Digicel launched its cell
phone service in the country, The PNG Radio-communications and
Telecommunications Technical Authority (Pangtel) advised the telco
that its interim spectrum license had been withdrawn and warned it
to stop all operations.
Pangtel director general Charles Punaha reportedly told Digicel
that the move followed a “directive” from Minister Arthur Somare.
“... we are legally obliged to implement the government policy and
to carry out our statutory functions in a manner consistent with
the ICT policy in accordance with Sectioin 36(2) and Section 35
(2) of the Telecommunication 1996 (Act) as amended,” Punaha said.
Punaha revealed that the amended ICT policy stipulated that
Telikom would be split into Network Company (NetCo) and Service
Company (ServCo), and the spectrum license would only be issued to
NetCo, which would be the owner and operator. He said that
“accordingly, the interim spectrum licences issued to Digicel and
Green Communication are now inconsistent with the amended
government policy and Pangtel will not grant any license contrary
to the said policy”.
Very clearly, the government wanted to keep its monopoly on the
mobile phone business through the NetCo and ServCo, two new
quasi-government businesses, despite the many pronouncements made
in the past that it would open the telco industry to competition,
whether from local operators or foreign-based companies.
“The actions of Pangtel (cancelling the licence) appear to be very
politically motivated ....” Lynch told a media briefing last
Wednesday. But as far as Digicel is concerned, “it is business as
usual for Digicel ...”, he said.
Digicel’s coming has been long-anticipated. This is because cell
phone users in Papua New Guinea have seen Digicel as the “knight
in galloping mobile technology” that would save them from the
insanity of services being provided by “B” Mobile.
When the word-of-mouth buzz on Digicel launching came out on
Friday, July 20, thousands of cell phone users carrying “B” Mobile
SIM cards queued up in front of the just-opened Digicel outlets in
Port Moresby as well as those in Lae city in the northern coast of
PNG to sign up.
For the estimated 15,000 expatriate Filipinos, with about half of
them in the national capital city of Port Moresby, the coming of
Digicel was something to celebrate. At K1.66 (PHP24.40 or
US$0.544) per minute call to the Philippines, Digicel’s rate is
62.20% cheaper than what is normally being charged by Telikom,
which is an outrageous K4.40 (PHP64.48 or US$1.43) per minute for
direct dialing, and a little more for calls from “B” Mobile.
Digicel’s text messaging, both locally and overseas, costs only 25
toea (PHP3.68 or US$0.082) per message, which is very much cheaper
than the one charged by “B” Mobile.
Under the present overseas calling set up, countries of
destinations are divided into two zones - Zone 1, which covers
Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, China, US and
selected destinations, is charged K1.48 (PHP21.76) during day
calls and 99 toea (K14.55) for night calls. Zone 2 covers the rest
of the world and is charged K1.66 for day and night calls.
Because of this rate scheme, the Filipinos are petitioning Digicel
management to include the Philippines among the Zone 1 countries,
explaining that there are about 15,000 cell-phone carrying
Filipinos in Papua New Guinea, and that they make regular calls to
the Philippines. They said that should the Philippines go with
Zone 1 countries, Digicel could expect bigger call and text
messaging volumes to the Philippines.
At a cost ranging from K89 (PHP1,300) to K99 (K1,455), the
subscription comes with a free handset, which could be Nokia 1100,
Konka C625 and Kona C636, Bolo 68 and Motorola C113.
In many Filipino gatherings last weekend, the major topic was the
new mobile phone service. And almost all were saying they’re just
waiting for Digicel to stabilize and then they would thrash “B”
Mobile for good.
You can’t blame the Filipinos. Back in the Philippines, they are
being pampered to high heavens by the three warring telcos - Smart
(of Philippine Long Distance Co), Globe and Sun Cellular - all
offering the cheapest cell phone call and texting services and
free ring-tones. And for all this, their services are all rating
high. And these three telcos are now into 3G, going 3.5G aside
from the broadband services being offered at cheaper rates.
So, the prospect of being able to get an efficient service from
Digicel is enough for the Filipinos to finally abandon ship.
This week, an open war between Digicel and “B” Mobile broke out:
With Telikom blocking all moves for it to interconnect with
Digicel, the new telco retaliated with a whole page full-color ad
in the local papers enticing “B” Mobile users to swap their SIM
cards with free Digicel SIM cards, plus a K20 load credit for
free. (Obviously, Digicel has ignored Pangtel’s cancellation of
its license last Friday, maintaining that it has a valid permit.)
In short, Digicel is practically telling “B” Mobile users: it’s
now time to junk “B” Mobile’s and move on.
Faced with the prospect of being jettisoned by its current
subscribers, Telikom has put up a brave front by telling the
public that it will not drop out of the game. Earlier, Telikom
managing director Peter Loko said, “several thousand new customers
are signing each month” and with this, the telco expects to hit
the 200,000 mark by end of this month (July) and is processing
more than one million cell phone calls every day”.
This could not be true anymore. During the first four days of
Digicel’s operations, it already signed up over 20,000 customers,
who are obviously dissatisfied former “B” Mobile phone users and
new ones, who earlier did not find “B” Mobile worth bothering
about.
Truly, the days of delayed arrival of text messages, clogged up
network, outrageous top-up rates and substandard service, are
almost over.
Welcome to PNG, Digicel!
Meantime, foreign investors who are watching right now must be
shaking their heads in great disbelief, disgust and amusement.
Now, they want to believe that there’s truth to the “amended”
saying that “PNG is the land of the expected”.
 
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