Protect its state-owned monopoly of telecommunication or open itself up for competition?

The government of Papua New Guinea (PNG) is facing criticism for choosing a protective stance and setting a policy to sustain the state monopoly on telecommunication services, specially international phone calls. PNG's  Ministry of Communication and Information came out with an Information Communication Technology (ICT) policy in April 2008 citing economic and social development goals for enforcing the monopoly held by state-owned telecommunications company Telikom. 

PNG has only a few telecommunications service providers. Telikom provides the fixed line services while Digicel and GreenCom provide mobile phone services. Digicel has released statements that a monopoly on international phone calls might force them to interconnectivity arrangements that would be more costly to the PNG consumers. Telikom has also contested the validity of Digicel's license, but the PNG supreme court upheld the license as valid.

Communication and Information Minister Patrick Tammur said “The government ... hopes to allow Telikom PNG transformation in preparation for open competition to commence under Phase 2 of the National ICT Policy....This means that Telikom PNG as a State Enterprise must be competitive when the ICT market opens up for full competition.”

This was not the first time that the PNG government balked at external pressure to privatise. In 2004, it halted the projected acquisition of Telikom by EcoNet Wireless Group after being embroiled in internal political conflict.

Telecommunications infrastructure in the country remains at a low level. The major communications mode is by radio. Papua New Guinea is continuously challenged in setting up telecom infrastructure due to its highly varied geography. Furthermore, PNG citizens typically face connectivity charges that are among the highest in the world relative to their standard of living and average incomes.


Sources:

Joku, H. (2008). Telecommunications: Digicel tightlipped on gateway issue. IslandsBusiness.com  Retrieved on April 14, 2008, from  http://www.islandsbusiness.com/islands_business/index_dynamic/containerNameToReplace=MiddleMiddle/focusModuleID=17940/overideSkinName=issueArticle-full.tpl

Kelegai, L. & Middleton, M. (2002). Information technology education in Papua New Guinea: Cultural, economic and political influences. Journal of Information Technology Education, 1(1).

Isis International. (2008). People's Communications for Development (PC4D).

Vulum, S. (2004). Somare Halts PNG Telikom Sale. IslandsBusiness.com. Retrieved on April 14, 2008, from http://www.islandsbusiness.com/archives/islands_business/index_dynamic/containerNameToReplace=MiddleMiddle/focusModuleID=3867/overideSkinName=issueArticle-full.tpl