Increased volume of calls affected Digicel network: Exec

DIGICEL network issues experienced last weekend was due to the increased volume of calls, senior vice-president and chief sales officer Lorna McPherson says.
Responding to questions from The National on the Digicel network issue, she said there was no problem with the network.
“On Dec 25 and 26, we experienced peak Christmas calling, hence we had a few issues due to the volume of calls,” McPherson said.
“In Port Moresby, we do not have many incidents or issues, however,in rural PNG we have a lot of vandalism.”
Information Communication and Technology Minister Timothy Masiu previously told The National that it was an expensive exercise for mobile network operators to put up additional telecommunication infrastructures, such as towers, in the rural areas and vandalism was not good.
“The issue about vandalism and harassing telecommunication infrastructure is not good,” he said.
“I have been calling on my people in Bougainville and other provinces to not tamper with Telikom or Digicel towers because these are the infrastructures that help us communicate.
“Tampering with those infrastructures will hamper the communication service within the rural areas as well.”
Masiu also noted that it was vital for proper awareness to be carried out in the rural areas on the usage of the telecommunication services that were being provided.