Telstra gets nod from Nicta

By DALE LUMA
THE country will benefit from K200 million in capital investments in the telecommunications sector over the next two years, after Telstra has been given the green light to buy Digicel PNG Ltd.
The National Information and Communications Authority (Nicta) gave its final consent to Telstra last Wednesday to transfer license rights of the proposed acquisition of Digicel Pacific.
Information Communications Technology Minister Timothy Masiu said it was the first time a major Australian telecommunications company was making a huge investment in PNG.
“This means a lot to PNG because we are expecting more areas to be covered by the service that they (Telstra) are bringing.
“They will be building towers in areas which are not covered right now.”
Digicel PNG Ltd and Hitron Ltd have their own operator licences to provide ICT services in the country.
Nicta chief executive officer Kila Gulo-Vui said up to K200 million would be invested in PNG in the next two years including “capacity upgrades from 3G to 4G of remaining Digicel networks”.
“It also includes a buildup of additional communication infrastructure towers, upgrade of quality of services from 96 per cent to about 99 per cent,” he said.
“There is no question on Teltra’s capacity in terms of its technical expertise and financial ability. We expect that to flow into our economy that will contribute to the sectors development and aspirations.”
Responding to The National on their thoughts on the approval by Nicta, a Telstra spokesman said: “We are pleased to receive unconditional approval from Nicta on our proposed acquisition of Digicel Pacific. We are working through the final completion steps of the acquisition.”