Government stops mobile competition
THE National Executive Council has made a decision to effectively stop any mobile competition in the country and competition will be delayed by another 12 months.
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Digicel still committed to offer services
Digicel is committed to Papua New Guinea and continues to work closely with the Government of Papua New Guinea and the regulators – the Independent Consu-mer and Competition Commission and PANGTEL, to introduce within weeks competition to the telecommunications sector.
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By So when the hell do we get improved services!!! You want to delay my opportunity to have a better service by 12 months?! And you are now directly effecting my business income. What the Fuck is that!! Why didn’t you think of that before you issued the licenses, how many consultants and how much advice were you getting before you issued the licenses? How much money was spent on that before you reached this new brain wave?
Do you know how long it will take and cost to setup 2 separate companies of that size? We’ll obviously be waiting for another 10 years while NetCo and ServCo work out their internal systems, staffing issues etc. and consequently that will delay the quality of the services that are to come to us. So why do we have to suffer for your stupid mistakes.
I totally understand that Telikom or NetCo or ServCO (who came up with these stupid ,boring, uninspiring names anyway??) is PNG owned and we need to support our PNG owned businesses. I do realise that we need to keep money in the country but the Telikom business case against the Digicel case is a no-brainer.
Digicel does not have landlines and internet, so that’s one revenue stream Telikom has that Digicel doesn’t. Inter-connecting fees between Digicel mobiles to Telikom landlines will make additional revenue for Telikom. Telikom could also sell wholesale internet through Digicel mobiles if they were to introduce 3G.
In terms of mobile competition, all Telikom has to do is to improve reception for it’s network in the cities where the most concentration of users and especially business users are.
So why the panic Telikom?
And for Gods Sake Telikom if you want a better company than pay your staff better or hire better people. Digicel went out and got Peter Watinga for marketing and this PNG gentleman had been doing wonders at all the other company’s he worked for so any right thinking organisation would obviously chase him down to get him to work for them. There are countless stories like this with Digicel paying well and employing PNG’eans. Shit they even bothered to contract us to do their website while other PNG companies like BSP, etc send that type of work overseas.
In short the Government and Telikom need only to open their fuckin eyes to see that the solutions to their problems are right under their noses and if they bothered to look they would realise that they have in their hands a sleeping giant. Farrrk, how much will it cost to restructure these 2 new stupidly named companies???
17 comments
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July 2, 2007 at 11:41 pm
Solo
FUCK! I am adding another of those four letter words to your frustration bro. I just don’t know how this freaking govt system operates in PNG. Nothing makes any sense to a lay man! This is political insanity at its best!
July 3, 2007 at 12:05 am
badira
even my cat can meow better then those stupid names!
July 3, 2007 at 5:43 am
Emmanuel
Digicel has assured me that they still have their license and the news report was not true…so they are still heading full steam ahead to launch very soon!
July 3, 2007 at 6:35 am
Rex
There is always a way around things….if you have the will. To go around this…..just delay the launch for a month. Wait for the new Government to form and set to work. The new Government can rescid any decision present Government sets.
I’m no lawyer but a restraining order to NEC until the formation of the New Government can do the trick
July 3, 2007 at 6:45 am
Emmanuel
Digicel seen confident so they must have something up their sleeve. Im sure issues like this are not new to them…
July 3, 2007 at 7:02 am
someone
It is a real shame that you guys do not support your own home grown company and support foreign companies ownership.
July 3, 2007 at 7:13 am
Emmanuel
Hi Someone,
I know what your saying and I have gone out of my way to offer my companies services to them so I can help. But their management has been very slow in getting back to me and Digicel eventually came through and asked for us to help them.
So it’s more a case of the homegrown company not helping themselves.
I would love that Telikom could be a dominant force within the South Pacific like our bank ‘Bank of South Pacific’ but if their management and the government cannot get their act together than globalisation will step in.
So if the people in PNG are going to be supporting a foreign company then I’d rather be a part of it so I can have my say as to how they operate in PNG.
Again for a foreign company to have so much confidence in local human resources makes you wonder why your own home grown company is not business friendly to its own people.
Maybe now you can see why there is so much resentment, even if it is our own.
July 3, 2007 at 7:40 am
rodney itaki
WTF!!!
Why the hell did they issue the liscence in the first place?
Just when I am thinking I can get a chance to have a better serice (even if I have to pay higher for it) I have wait for another freakin 12 months!
Telikom PNG only have to get their act together, stop the bloody politics, hire the right people, fire those that derserve to go and do what they are paid to do.
Having said that, the delaying of the launching of Digicel is a reflection of the government’s lack of proper planning, lack of ironing out things that need fixing (e.g laws, policy etc) and even the lack of a Information Communication Technology policy.
The last I read, the minister responsible – Hon. Authur Somare was preparing it. Then the chief secretary, come Petromin CEO said the ICT policy was not ready! What the heck is happening.
Fix these things quicky.
PNG is sleeping while some of the poorest nations within our region (eg Bangladesh) are advancing rapidly because of improvements in ICT.
July 4, 2007 at 12:36 pm
someone
I think it should be big concern for every one that foreign companies are getting a stronger hold in PNG every year, and are taking over many large and small businesses, especially in the foresty industry and some parts of the mining sector and now this.
Cheers
July 4, 2007 at 11:02 pm
Emmanuel
Hi Someone, I like this discussion thanks again for your comments.
Yes it is a concern, but my reasons for supporting Digicel are:
Firstly, Digicel is a threat because the govt can’t leave politics out of business so they keep stumbling on themselves. Like I said the answers are there for Telikom and Digicel to survive in a healthy duopoly, but knee jerk reactions like trying to split the company in 2 will not help them. Telikom is its own enemy in this, because it keeps creating opportunities for Digicel.
Secondly, the actual service that Digicel provides promotes PNG business activity through efficient and cheaper communications methods. So a comparison with Logging and Mining companies is unfair, because those industries are one way. They take everything, money goes straight to the govt. and we still see no improvement with hospitals etc. Digicel may very well make millions from us but at least I know that I have a reliable communications service to run my business. My internet has been on and off for the last 2 weeks. What the hell is that?? My whole business relies on the internet. Everything has a price, whether we suffer and throw money in a hole or we throw money to something that actually ignites economic activity in PNG.
Like I said Telikom has landlines, internet and it’s own mobile network. Inter-connection fees will make it money and especially internet. They just have to look within and improve what they have. I’m sure that is allot cheaper than setting up a whole new company like what Digicel is doing.
Thirdly, we have the money in our Super Funds and educated PNG managers out there to create, buy and maintain big businesses in PNG. POSF’s move to buy out Arnotts and to rename it as ‘Paradise Foods’ is a perfect example of this. If these PNG companies can pay well for educated PNG’eans to work for them then they won’t have to leave to Australia to work down there.
Fourthly, don’t be too disheartened you’d be surprised at how many large to medium business are actually PNG owned. And there’s more to come with the improving economy. Globalisation will not go away, we have to dig our heels in and fight by improving on what we have.
July 5, 2007 at 5:38 am
someone
I can understand your frustrations of having your internet no working, I think I would go crazy if I could not connect and can understand why you would support Digicel.
As you said “they just have to look within and improve of what they have” and that is what should of happened or possibly the government should of waited for that so called “Ethan report”
Good luck to you in developing your business.
cheers
July 10, 2007 at 2:25 am
niicaux
I Hear you, bro.
And in the words of H. J Simpson, “They are the suckiest bunch of sucks that I ever saw.”!
July 10, 2007 at 3:24 am
Rex
@niicaux
hahahha heheh hohoh
Homer just comes up wit craziest thing to say!
July 10, 2007 at 6:03 am
Emmanuel
LOL..yupela tu yah!!
July 23, 2007 at 10:26 am
James McDougal
IF you really want to do something positive and restore if not reclaim your dignity in this world you should begin by making counterfeit CD’s DVD’s and other fast moving items of consumer goods incouding fake make up and perfumes and have these shipped to Australia the wolrd dump for consumer goods.
If you think it is a joke then do not read on and go back to the trees and scratch your smelly balls.
If you are iterested, then you can purchase equipment from China for the purpose or Germany or Taiwan or the USA by setting up a ‘charity’ in your home town by first getting a gift receipient number from department of tax.
Next step start lobbying Australian and American and Eu charitible or NGO’s and seek assistance for village based industry.
Set up shop near moresby like Kwikilla, Brown River and the rest where it is difficult for anyone to police. Murray Barracks and Goldie Barracks would be good places as well (no taxes or customs checks for goods comming into the place as it is army consignment).
You are quite skilled craftspeople making images that look like Maskat Iangalou and placing them in te lobby of the Islander? Why not apply the same skills which you do not really need to copy en mass CD’s, DVD’s and other items of value?
You can get the correct sleeves and covers for nothing. The next step because all this may be considered contraband in some countries is to forma record club, pay for ads in Australian papers then supply people who pay for the product.
Say the whole Beatles collection is worth US$100 on the open market, you can sell the same for $25 including post and packaging. Why? it only costs you $5 to make the dammned thing. That includes yuor profit.
Is it illegal? no because your copyright laws do not cover such infringements and in most cases they do not cover your territory.
Billions of dollars of counterfeit goods find their way from China to the US and Australia each year. Australian and US government officials turn the other way because they are corrupt and do not want to offend the Chinese who realise their own goods were counterfeited by the US during the cold war days and counterfeiting is used by the Australian and US governments to support various rebellions in many parts of the world.
If they steal youre forests using Chinese Malaysians with Australian passports and bank accounts and advisors, then who says you cannot do the same?
fair exchange is no robbery.
August 15, 2007 at 7:23 am
garax
Telikom is papagraun and they shall not be move.
If Telikom does not allow interconnection between its’ network, digicel state of the art mobile network will become simply a two-way radio system.
Ha….ha ha ha
August 16, 2007 at 1:31 am
Emmanuel
Garax, well you’re right about that…but seriously don’t you see the overall big picture of competition improving the entire communications industry??