Corporate and residential telecommunications prices in Papua New Guinea should fall over the next year as infrastructure improves, according to senior representatives of PNG’s two leading telecommunications companies, Telikom and Digicel.

Digicel PNG’s John Mangos (left) with Telikom PNG Chairman Mahesh Patel.

Naturally, pricing was the issue that most conference delegates—and those who sent in questions beforehand via social media—wanted to know about. Both men said new infrastructure was delivering lower prices and better services.

‘I think this year alone we’ve spent about K200 million, and the majority of that is on 3G upgrades,’ said Mangos.

Data usage rising

‘When we started rolling out our networks six or seven years ago, the demand really was for voice and SMS services, and we started with low speed data. All we’ve seen from there is just a huge take-up in data usage.

‘So, of the 730-odd sites that we have out there, we’re upgrading 300 of those to 3G cell and also going to be trialling LTE [Long Term Evolution, also called 4G] shortly.

‘Most of the investment is going straight into data and there has also been a doubling of the voice capacity over the last couple of months as well.

‘But if you really look at it, it’s all about data, it’s all about smartphones, tablets, how people remain connected, so that’s really where all the investment’s going.’

Telikom stabilising infrastructure

Mahesh Patel said Telikom PNG’s focus is currently on improving an old infrastructure.

‘The fixed-line infrastructure has really deteriorated while revenues are going down. So, it’s a bit of a dilemma whether we spend and how much do we spend on that. The first priority will be to stabilise the infrastructure.

‘Second, we’ll be looking at going into fixed-line broadband.

‘With the major centres, we’re looking at 4G, so the plan has started. By November 2014, we’ll be up and running.’

Pricing comparable to Australia

Both said they wanted PNG pricing to be similar or lower than that in Australia.

‘If you go back to say two, two-and-a-half years when there wasn’t any 3G across the operators, Telikom and  Bemobile, it was about two kina (AUD$0.85) per megabyte,’ said Mangos.

‘Fast forward to now—it’s 10 toea (AUD$0.04) per megabyte. To buy a gigabyte a day on Telstra Australia’s mobile network is about AUD$40. To buy a gigabyte from our network is about 85 Kina (AUD$36.12).  So there’s actually a mobile parity and it’s fallen significantly in the last two-and-a-half years.

‘For the whole industry to develop, you need to actually get all those value-added services—ISPs, call centres, data centres’

‘I think we’re seeing in the corporate end and down at the SME (small and medium-sized business) end, you’re seeing prices actually lower than that again.

‘That will fall down in the next 12-18 months through the residential, but now it’s actually comparable to mobile packages in Australia or broadband services.’

Patel agreed PNG pricing is getting close to international prices.

‘We’ve just released some price drops in our fixed line voice—we’re looking at streamlining the regional rates and all that. The ultimate goal really is just to concentrate on keep dropping prices as affordability is an issue in PNG’s remote areas. Ideally, we’d like to be cheaper than Australia really.’

Limited scope for new players

Both Patel and Mangos agreed there is limited scope for a fourth player, the troubled Bemobile being PNG’s third telco.

‘PNG is not even four per cent of what the Australian market is,’ said Patel. ‘So it’s not a big market.

‘From my perspective, for further competition, if we had a couple of telcos in mobile, a couple in fixed line, that should really bring the prices down and give the service to the people.’

Mangos predicted the high cost of providing access would be a hindrance to any new national telco, but the entrants would be voice, ISP and data providers.

‘For the whole industry to develop, you need to actually get all those value-added services—ISPs, call centres, data centres—on top of what we’ve already done,’ Mangos said.

‘It’s not about connecting the [regional] areas any more, it’s about: once a customer is connected, what do they require on top of that?’