Telikom, DataCo to give internet a boost

KUMUL Telikom Holdings Limited (KTHL) has announced the upgrade and migration of services on its PPC-1 cable link between Madang and Sydney to increase international internet traffic from 6Gbps to 10Gbps.
A similar upgrade work has also started at the Gerehu satellite Earth station to have an additional 6Gbps of international traffic by October 2018.
Both efforts are preparations for the Apec Leaders’ Summit in November.
The upgrade will be jointly undertaken by DataCo and Telikom PNG who are both subsidiaries of KTHL.
The two telcos, in a joint press conference addressed by their respective heads, indicated that the expected gain for both entities would be to have equal share of the 10Gbps capacity so as to enable the parent company to fully utilise its assets.
Telikom PNG acting chief executive Xavier Victor praised the joint effort, stressing the need to increase the capacity of the PPC-1 cable link considering the preparations for the Apec Summit where increased capacity for international traffic would be required by APEC participants and organisers.
“The current total capacity after a recent upgrade on PPC-1 last month stands at 6Gbps and based on internet usage required for Apec delegates, it was estimated that the required bandwidth for the November leaders’ meet would require up to 4.5Gbps capacity,” Victor said.
Dataco PNG chief executive Paul Komboi said the firm’s interest was to ensure KTH got the return on its investments.
“DataCo has committed over K800,000 to this upgrade solution and plan to have service in operation after the cutover that is scheduled for the midnight of July 1 with the network team to monitor the operational performance leading up to November,” Komboi said.
Komboi said DataCo already had a number of wholesale customers with pre-commitments for the upgraded capacity which came with special promotions for the Apec period and were awaiting the completion of these upgrade initiatives.