Internet upgrade needs K500-plus

By MARK HAIHUIE
MORE than K500 million will be spent on upgrading Telikom PNG’s capacity to cater for the 3G and 4G network nationally, according to Telikom PNG chief executive officer Michael Donnelly.
Telikom PNG has secured a contract with the National Information and Communication Technology Authority (NICTA) and Donnelly said this would enable the company to provide its services to the country in a progressive manner.
“We have only just started and have covered the whole of Port Moresby along with Lae which includes the Nadzab area to enable 4G network coverage,” he said.
“We are building 258 towers. In addition we won a contract with NICTA that is co-funded by the World Bank. But this is phase one of the projects and with this initial developments, it will also allow for the roll out to the rural areas as well.”
Donnelly said the coverage was pivotal before the rural market could use the service.
It is the primary objective of the company.
“First thing is you got to bring those in the rural areas coverage and access to the service before they can utilise the benefits that come from the services provided by Telikom,” he said.
“And as we build this network across the country those areas will receive access to this service.
“But the main aim is to cover the maximum number of people in the shortest amount of time which is the 65 per cent of the population by the end of the first next year.
“There’s about 25, 000 CDMA customers and some of them have been dormant but there has been an overwhelming demand in the switch as can be seen in both Lae and Port Moresby once we started this.”