‘Merger good for market’

THE merger of Telikom and bmobile is good for the separation of the retail and wholesale internet market, a business forum has been told.
Sundar Ramamurthy addressed the forum yesterday as the chairman of the PNG Business Council internet working group.
“The Government, in the last couple of weeks, has undertaken a structural separation of the Kumul Telikom Holdings (KCH) group which is fantastic news,” he said.
“(It) creates a retail arm which composes of bmobile and Telikom resources – fixed line and mobile – and put it in a new company called Telikom Ltd.
“DataCo is structurally separated and has independent shareholding by KCH.
“It separated the wholesale and retail operations of Government.
“This allows the Government to undertake State-owned enterprise reforms with Telikom Ltd.
“It also allows, potentially, a SPV (special purpose vehicle) to be created between KCH or the Government and industry participants to create a more effective wholesale.
“So it is not just an SOE reform for the retail sector but potentially a SOE reform for the wholesale sector as well.”