PNG’S KEY INDUSTRIAL SECTORS
4.4 Infrastructure
Citifon, a CDMA mobile phone service. Telikom is part of the family of state-owned enterprises managed by the Independent Public Business Corporation (IPBC—see Section 2.9).
4.4.1 Ports PNG’s 16 declared ports are managed by the state-owned company, PNG Ports Corporation Limited, which falls under the auspices of the Independent Public Business Corporation (IPBC). The Maritime Division of the Department of Transport regulates other government and privately operated ports. PNG’s declared ports are: 1. Aitape 2. Alotau 3. Buka 4. Daru 5. Kavieng 6. Kieta
7. Kimbe 8. Lae 9. Lorengau 10. Madang 11. Oro Bay 12. Port Moresby
13. Rabaul 14. Samarai 15. Vanimo 16. Wewak
Aitape and Samarai are managed under agency. Lae, in Morobe Province, is PNG’s busiest port. It is currently undergoing a major expansion expected to be completed by 2015. Regular Lae port users are recommended to join its users group at http://groups.google.com/group/lae-port-users. Long-term plans exist to relocate PNG’s second-busiest port, Port Moresby, to a larger site, as it currently sits adjacent to the city centre. This relocation would place the port in closer proximity to the engineering, procurement and construction facilities for the PNG LNG project in the Kairuku–Hiri District of neighbouring Central Province. Regular users of the port are recommended to join its users group at http://groups.google. com/group/pom-port-users. Shipping schedules and other port information are available from the PNG Ports website: www.pngports.com.pg. A small number of private ports operate in PNG, including Curtain Brothers’ dockyard on Motukea Island near Port Moresby, Steamships’ wharf in Port Moresby and Ok Tedi Mining’s inland port on the Fly River at Kiunga. Avenell Engineering Services is currently constructing a new private wharf outside Port Moresby, while there are long-term plans to develop a port and related industrial centre at Daru in the Western Province.
The connection of PNG to two large international data cables, from Australia and Guam, has greatly improved internet speeds and network capacity in PNG in recent years. Another major factor has been the deregulation of the sector. Digicel’s arrival in PNG in 2007 followed the PNG Government’s adoption of a pro-competition policy in telecommunications. This was formalised in an Information and Communications Technology Act, which heralded the introduction of a new regulator for the industry, the National Information and Communication Technology Authority (NICTA), established in 2010. NICTA recently moved from a service-specific regulatory regime to an open licence regime, which means carriers and value-added service providers who were previously licenced to provide specific mobile or internet services, can now migrate their licences and offer all services. This is expected to increase competition in the internet and fixed telecommunications areas in PNG. Service providers such as Digicel, Telikom PNG, Datec and Hitron have all migrated to the new regime, and it is expected additional overseas operators will start to apply for these licences in PNG. The advent of competition in the telecommunications sector is generally regarded as having delivered lower prices, improved reliability, and the expansion of mobile network coverage for business. Digicel estimates that up to 4.5 million people now live in areas covered by its mobile phone network, while about 30% of the population now use either Bemobile’s or Digicel’s network. Accompanying this expansion has been the deployment of several technologies new to PNG, including the introduction of CDMA/3G services, wireless broadband internet and support for Blackberry smart phones. Telikom PNG is the main wholesaler of internet bandwidth. Internet service providers (ISPs) in PNG include Datec, Daltron, Global Technologies, Telinet, Hitron and Online South Pacific. These offer a range of internet services including ADSL broadband, wireless, leased line, HF/VHF radio and dialup internet services for business and consumers, and also email and web hosting.
4.4.2 Telecommunications and internet PNG is the largest telecommunications market in the Pacific. Its telecommunications sector is dominated by two players: state-owned Telikom PNG and Irish-owned Digicel, which competes directly with Telikom PNG in the mobile phone and mobile internet areas. A third entity, Bemobile (now managed under contract by Vodafone Fiji), competes in the mobile phone space and is 51% owned by the PNG Government. Telikom PNG provides nearly all fixed-line phone calls in PNG, as well as most fixed internet services. In May 2011, it launched
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THE PNG INVESTORS’ MANUAL - THIRD EDITION