Duma clarifies rise in Telikom price

National

PUBLIC Enterprise and State Investment Minister William Duma says the increase in Telikom pricing is part of the alignments of mobile data pricing across the Kumul Telikom Holdings Group.
He said prior to the changes, bmobile 2G and 3G rates were slightly higher than Digicel, while Telikom mobile 4G rates were lower – in some cases up to 60 per cent cheaper.
He said the consolidation of mobile data pricing under bmobile was a necessary feature in the restructure of KTH.
“It allows KTH to focus on winning new customers instead of poaching them with international competition,” Duma said.
“The competitor is the foreign-owned Digicel who continues to hold over 80 per cent of the market.
“Since 2012 mobile phone penetration and internet penetration and coverage in PNG has grown to well over 40 per cent of the total population.”
Duma said the investment in the State-owned communications companies would eventually drive sector growth in the country.
Rural agriculture-based industry will benefit from online transactions, weather and commodity information and financial services. “Schools will benefit from online education resources and internet-based administration. Health services will benefit from domestic and international connectivity to assist the delivery of rural medical services,” he said. “Local economies will thrive as services become easily accessible, more affordable and more reliable.”