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By CHRISTINE PAKAKOTA
COMPETITION is healthy and should be allowed provided investors abide by the
rules and regulations of this country.
Communication and Information Technology Minister Patrick Tammur made this
comment during a brief media conference after a visit to the Pangtel office last
Friday.
Pangtel acting director-general Charles Punaha said the visit was to give the
minister a briefing from the Pangtel management.
When asked to comment on the Telikom-Digicel issue, Mr Tammur said he was yet to
settle in office and to get well-versed with it but added: “We need competition
but then again there are rules and regulations of this country that has to be
followed. And as an investor, it has to abide by the rules and regulations of
this country.”
Mr Tammur pointed out that issues relating to alleged illegal use of frequencies
was an operational matter and would not comment on it as Pangtel had already
taken the process of handling it.
The advice given to him by Pangtel is only on events that have taken place up to
date.
Meanwhile, Pangtel has extended the deadline for Digicel to show cause why its
Interim Spectrum Licence should not be revoked on the basis of allegedly abusing
the Radio Spectrum Regulations 1997. The extension was effective as of Sept 28.
Mr Punaha said: “We have given them a seven-day extension so we’re hoping that
they can come to us rather than communicate with us through their lawyers.”
Digicel through its legal counsel Young & Williams, in a letter to Pangtel dated
Sept 24, denied illegally using frequency ranges outside of its allocated
frequency licence.
Earlier this week, a Digicel spokesperson said: “It’s business as usual for
Digicel. The court and ICCC support our mobile licence. We continue to roll out
our network to bring affordable services to all regions of PNG.
“We have the public’s support and expect that the Government will continue to
support the introduction of competition it had the foresight to start as far
back as 2002.”
 
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