ISPs rates not regulated: Nicta

By PETER ESILA
COMPETITION among internet service providers (ISPs) will benefit customers with lower internet rates, according to the National Information and Communications Technology Authority (Nicta).
Nicta chief executive officer Kila Gulo-Vui said in Port Moresby yesterday that the cable price regulation ensured that the only internet wholesale provider DataCo PNG Ltd kept a low rate.
“Regulated rates are for the wholesaler and it does not apply to the ISP, it only applies to DataCo because it is the only cable provider,” he said.
“So the expectation is that these retailers that buy from DataCo should have a corresponding decrease, we have not gone down there, we expect the market to sort that out.
“You have to give some incentives to the retailers to set prices at competitive rates.
“DataCo’s wholesale price reduction keeps coming down, and for Nicta, that is good for everyone because we have introduced regulations governing prices and it is good to see that DataCo is responding.
“The idea is to get the wholesale access costs down and hopefully that will translate to cheaper retail prices.
“DataCo is a wholesale telecommunications service provider in the internet space.
“At the wholesale level, it is only DataCo but at the retail level, there are plenty of ISPs, so you allow them to compete.”
Gulo-Vui said the regulation was set purposely to regulate DataCo, as it was the only internet wholesaler on the market.