PRIME Minister James Marape yesterday announced the abolition of Kumul Telikom Holdings Ltd (KTHL) and amalgamation of Telikom and BMobile into a single retail telecommunications company – Telikom Ltd.
He also announced a wholesale telecommunications company, PNG DataCo Ltd, which will look after Papua New Guinea’s international satellite and optic fibre connections.
He said this important milestone was under his Government’s State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) reform programme as Papua New Guinea celebrates 46 years of Independence.
“On this auspicious occasion, I am more than happy to announce that my government has taken a huge step in reforming and supporting the country’s telecommunications industry,” PM Marape said.
“This follows a National Executive Council (NEC) decision in June, 2021, approving the abolition of KTHL and reinforcing earlier NEC decisions to merge Telikom and BMobile into a separate company, Telikom Ltd.
“Telecommunications is one of the service sectors where SOEs are heavily involved.
“Unfortunately, over recent years, we have seen the value of our telecommunications assets eroded, and I commend the SOE Minister, Hon. William Duma for arresting the decline.
“The Telikom merger was made possible by effectively liquidating a K200 million ANZ loan that has been outstanding since 2013; I commend the KCH Board for clearing this legacy debt.”
PM Marape said Telikom Ltd and DataCo would be subsidiaries of Kumul Consolidated Holdings (KCH), and the changes announced had been approved by all the necessary stakeholder groups and regulatory bodies including Internal Revenue Commission (IRC), Investment Promotion Authority (IPA), National Information and Communications Technology Authority (NICTA) and Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (ICCC).
“Today’s announcement will add improved telecommunications to the list of improved services and strategies that my Government has embarked on, diversifying and accelerating growth in the non-mining and non-petroleum sectors to create more jobs,” he said.
“Therefore, I am pleased to say that our Independence Day gifts are two focused telecommunications SOEs – Telikom Ltd and PNG DataCo Ltd – who can contribute to a more efficient telecommunications sector in the country.
“In telecommunications terms, today marks the start of another step along our SOE reform journey and heralds the beginning of a new chapter of improved services to the people of PNG.”
PM Marape said given the rugged terrain, it was essential that the country must have an efficient telecommunications network to connect the country, and to the rest of the world.
“We realise that these changes alone will not necessarily result in a major improvement to the telecommunications landscape,” he said.
“Through our SOE reform programme, we are extending, through KCH, additional funding to facilitate the merger activities and further support improvements to telecommunications infrastructure around the country.
“I wish everyone throughout the length and breadth of our beloved country a Happy 46th Anniversary of Independence.
“God bless us all.”
The merger is welcoming news. Improved Services announced in the merger must include;
1. Reduction on Internet Access Rates/Costs
2. Internet Speed must be improved
And PNG DataCo must come public on who owns the core data infrastructure and what/who is determining the cost matrix of wholesale pricing of the Internet pricing in PNG.
This will be enlightening users of Internet in PNG.
All in all thank you.
Why can’t we just have an SOE that does not have a name change every time we have a new Prime Minister… [you can’t create an SOE (in this case, a change of name) as a tool to hold on to political power]
It would be good to have a bit more detail about why this is good thing or not for the country. What difference is it going to make, as noted above, to retail data costs, service delivery and reception issues? How will the lack of competition influence prices for data at a retail level? Is this in response to interest from other OS telcoms entering the PNG market?
For me personally, I don’ agree with the intention of abolishing the KTHL, because the amalgamation and merging of the three telos (Telikom, Bmobile and DataCo) will see improvements in PNG’s communication services. It will strengthen their competitive nature with the leading competitor DIGICEL. Thus, digicel is taking-off. It is dominating market in terms of communication services and internet access through the usage of data with affordable and convenient rates. The merging of these three entities is critical has it will enhance cost-effective sharing of resources and market intelligence. It will allow us to realise cost savings and harness the synersie between the three telos. Merging them will result in sharing of basic infrastructures such as towers throughout the country and that will improve, expand and increase access to an affordable ICT network in PNG.
Before SOE reforms are initiated, it is very important that the government evaluate and consider the importance of the existing SOE programs and policies. For instance the KTHL is not supposed to be abolished, because it has long term benefits that the country will experience.