Nicta wants data, call rates to come down

By LUKE KAMA
THE National Information and Communications Technology Authority will ensure data and call rates come down again to conform to the trend in place since 2012, an official says.
The acting chief executive of the authority (Nicta), Kila Gulo-Vui, told The National a lot of work had been done to provide telecommunications services to the people and to reduce prices. “As a result, mobile data prices have decreased substantially since 2012. And that trend will be reinforced and facilitated into the future,” Gulo-Vui said.
He said consumers rightly expected the cost of data services to continue to come down as technology costs reduced, as was the global trend.
“However, recent price increases (on certain mobile service provider in the country, particularly by Kumul Telikom) are contrary to this trend. And it is for the operators to be fully accountable and to explain their actions,” he said.
Gulo-Vui said Nicta recently conducted a public inquiry into certain mobile services and had submitted its report to the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and Energy Sam Basil.
The report recommended that certain mobile telecommunications services supplied by Digicel be subjected to a retail service determination. It is a regulatory step to protect or enhance competition.
He said Nicta also facilitated the establishment of the PNG Internet Exchange Point where all major networks operators and internet service providers exchanged internet traffic. It in turn leads to lower costs and improved services that are expected to flow through to consumers.