Transfer of Telikom assets to DataCo

By SHIRLEY MAULUDU
WITH the government’s setting of the PNG DataCo Ltd as a new state-owned entity to overhaul existing national communication and information systems, Telikom PNG’s assets will be transferred and integrated with PNG LNG fibre cable and PNG Power assets to constitute DataCo.
Minister for Public Enterprise and State Investments Ben Micah said several National Executive Council (NEC) decisions were made to consolidate and restructure state-owned companies in ICT sector.
Micah said this during the announcement of the new state entity and swearing in of the inaugural board members in Port Moresby on Tuesday.
“It is envisaged that the consolidation of assets will improve efficiency across the telecommunication network while achieving and enabling a robust system that is affordable, reliable and easily accessible.
The first move is to consolidate, Micah said.
“Looking at how the business of fixed lines and mobile and internet services is sort of consolidated in terms of state holdings in that sector.
“And therefore the appointment of this board and creating it as an independent organisation from IPBC will really drive that government agenda.
“The role of this new board now is to consolidate all those decisions and advise the government on how and when we should move in that direction.”
“Hopefully we’ll begin the process of assisting the government to clearly separating the aspects, of business in the ICT sector.”
Micah said they were going to make sure that the company took control of the traffic (data transmission), from Komo to Port Moresby where the rest of the data transmission ran on the data transmission lines.
He said a contract that was awarded prior for that will very soon be resolved.
 “Then, we will have the links from Yonki to Hagen and the undersea cables into Madang, all the way to Port Moresby.
“It is now the responsibility of this company to manage access to that data.”