CEO: Mobile data business picking up

TELIKOM PNG Ltd’s mobile business has picked up with data usage but its fixed business line had dropped, acting chief executive officer Amos Tepi says.
Tepi said this while providing an update on the company’s business progress.
He attributed the progress and decline in its business to the onset of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
“For fixed, there is a challenge though there is a monopoly, it is now open for micro links.
“The Covid-19 has not helped us in a way because previously most of the customers coming in stay in hotels here or the provinces use our fixed line.
“With the Covid-19 restrictions, people are not travelling and there is a decline in the use of fixed lines.
“The opportunity on the other hand is that people started using data which saw our mobile business pick up on data.”
Tepi said the company had also made some changes with core integrations being done to upgrade 3G network to 4G.
“We want an entire systems upgrade and we have done that and so far we have seen mobile subscriptions growing.
“The only thing is that our fixed line business has remained stagnant, it has not picked up.”