INTERCONNECTION TESTING IS UNDERWAY - Digicel and Telikom start testing interconnection

Thursday, January 31, 2008 – Yesterday Digicel and Telikom completed the physical link between the networks in Port Moresby. Today, Digicel and Telikom opened up their networks to the test teams to start interconnection testing. The testing of both networks is expected to take several days. Once testing is successfully completed, Digicel customers will be able to call Telikom and B Mobile customers and vice versa. Interconnection testing is essential to ensure that customers experience a high quality of service and to ensure the stability of both networks. Long term network stability will be ensured when interconnect is provided through 4 points of interconnect in Port Moresby, Lae, Hagen and Kokopo as agreed on by Telikom and Digicel.

Digicel CEO Kevin O’Sullivan said: “This is an important step towards nationwide interconnection and something we have been looking forward to since the launch of our network seven months ago. Testing is crucial to ensure that we continue to provide our customers with the high quality service that they have received since launch. Soon everyone will benefit from interconnection across networks, no matter whether you are a Digicel, Telikom or B Mobile customer, and that is what counts”.

Since its launch in July 2007, Digicel has invested in excess of K450 million in Papua New Guinea including substanial investment in its international gateway.The company is expected to invest a total of K1billion in the next three years.

Loko: We’re on

TELIKOM PNG Ltd chief executive officer Peter Loko yesterday assured mobile phone users B-Mobile was ready to interconnect today.
“Telikom is entirely ready to switch on interconnection tomorrow in compliance (with Government policy) and will do so tomorrow (today),” he told the Post-Courier last night.
While all looks set for the Government-owned company, it is understood Irish-owned Digicel is yet to do a compulsory four-day interconnect test before switching on their equipment.
Besides that Digicel (PNG) CEO Kevin O’Sullivan is concerned interconnection is not happening fast enough and appears to be only for Telikom’s Port Moresby-based customers.
“Put simply, Telikom and Digicel have agreed to join their networks at four places around the country. Telikom, however, appears to be concentrating only on Port Moresby and is not ready in the other three places: namely Lae, Hagen and Kokopo. Digicel wishes to ensure that all its customers are able to make and receive calls from Telikom and B-Mobile,” he said in a statement yesterday.
But Mr Loko yesterday said “extra points of interconnection” were not necessary to achieve full interconnection, giving the strongest hint yet that Telikom will not immediately set up interconnection equipment in Lae, Hagen, and Kokopo to reduce network congestion as per an agreement with Digicel.
“Extra points of interconnection are only required in the future to reduce potential congestion. They are not required for Telikom to achieve full interconnection of both mobile and fixed line on January 31,” he said.
It will cost Telikom about $US200,000 (K589,101.62) to set up the equipment in the three regional centres.
Mr Loko is confident network congestion, which became a growing problem for B-Mobile before the entry of Digicel, will not be an issue from today.
“The public has no reason to be anxious about congestion or prices (because) as far as Telikom is concerned we have plenty of capacity,” he said.
IN a bid to fast-track interconnection, Digicel initially offered to use its network to reroute all B-Mobile and Telikom traffic from throughout the country to Port Moresby, where it will then be interconnected by the government-owned company.
It also offered interconnection equipment free-of-charge to Telikom to temporarily set up and use in Lae, Hagen and Kokopo while its engineers worked on their own radio link machines.
But Telikom turned down both offers and, according to Mr Loko yesterday, should be able to handle extra traffic from Digicel’s network, which Mr O’Sullivan recently said had 200 on-air sites nationwide covering two million people. Mr Loko also allayed fears there would be an increase in Digicel’s international rates when it uses Telikom’s international gateway following the lapse of its own international gateway licence.
But Mr O’Sullivan has warned his customers will have to cope with increased rates.
“If Digicel is forced to stop using its own international gateway, this would result in Digicel customers having to accept Telikom’s congestion problems, quality of service and increased retail rates. Customers would also be prevented from internationally roaming or making or receiving international text messages,” he said.

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Wednesday 30th
Pricing talks stall hook-up

TELIKOM is still struggling against government directions to review its inter-connection rates, a situation now casting doubts on its promise to interconnect with Digicel tomorrow.
The state-owned company yesterday shifted the blame to foreign-owned Digicel, saying it was the one playing delaying tactics because it was going to lose its “temporary” international gateway service if it interconnected.
But Communications Minister Patrick Tammur on Monday night told Papua New Guineans “Digicel is here to stay”. Because the Independent Consumer and Competition Commission allowed Digicel to use its own international gateway pending agreements on inter-connection, he would leave the matter to the consumer watchdog to sort out.
Telikom officials, speaking on behalf of their boss Peter Loko, yesterday refused to confirm if inter-connection was going to be deferred again. The National Executive Council has not yet approved the rates as both companies are still negotiating.
But Telikom officers said “pricing is still an issue” and Digicel was the one raising all the doubts about the rates, especially regarding the mobile to fixed line calls.
Telikom last week announced the Government had directed it be given a one-week grace period to review its phone call rates before it inter-connected with Digicel.
The claim Digicel was delaying inter-connection was raised last month but the Irish-owned company denied those claims, saying it had always been ready to inter-connect.
Despite Port Moresby already being ready to be connected to Digicel network, as of yesterday, the other three points of connection – Lae, Rabaul and Mt Hagen – were still undergoing technical works to allow inter-connection as scheduled tomorrow.
Asked if customers could make calls from a mobile to a landline telephone if Digicel inter-connected with Telikom, the officers said making calls from a Digicel mobile to a landline “is likely not to be possible”.
Telikom officers said yesterday “all Telikom mobiles are routed through Boroko, and the bearer circuit from Boroko Exchange to Digicel tower was completed last Saturday’’.
“All other equipment needed by Telikom to interconnect B mobiles is also in place and under test. Seventy per cent of landlines are also routed through Boroko, and they are also covered by the Boroko Exchange equipment.
“Telikom engineers are currently installing the equipment at the other three points of interconnection (Kokopo, Hagen and Lae), to connect the remaining 30 per cent of landlines.”
Mr Loko in Monday night’s National Broadcasting Corpo-ration’s Talk Back Show raised hopes other negotiating parties would be ready for inter-connection tomorrow, adding the state-owned teleco company was “aiming” for interconnection as planned on that day.
“Our timeframe was to start the test on the 25th of January, testing ends on the 31st. I think all parties hopefully will be ready but we are working towards the 31st as we promised,” Mr Loko said. Mr Loko, backed by acting Communications Secretary Henao Iduhu, could not reveal when the review process would end and whether rates would be lowered.
Mr Loko added: “I really can’t comment but market force will determine the rates.”