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TELECOMMUNICATIONS AT RISK
ACTION IS NEEDED
FROM THE GOVERNMENT
PNGCCI, 3rd
March 2005 - At
the Annual General Meeting of the Papua New Guinea Chamber of
Commerce and Industry, support for the thrust of the government’s
economic direction was expressed. But also, disappointment due to
impediments to business had been addressed but, not implemented. A
major issue was the situation of telecommunications throughout the
country.
Mr. Mayberry
acknowledged complaints from members and stated that, “the
inconvenience from sub-standard Telikom service remains unsolved.
Private sector concern is to have an efficient service and the cost
must be reasonable to telephone users. This is not happening.”
Mr Mayberry says
“it must be pointed out that it is too often difficult to make
overseas calls like contacting the numbers in India and Australia.
Standards are below what is expected of such an essential service”.
Mr Mayberry says
“In Madang, users are complaining that the phone service was not
maintained and parts of the town network was falling to apart. They
are also complaining about the lack of available lines.”
“I am concerned
about the international cable link which technical reports advise is
about to fail. The international cable link was due for replacement
ten years ago and has not been retired due to a failure to invest in
replacement links. The cable link has passed the normal term of
commercial use and it is becoming increasingly likely to fail.
Telikom urgently needs some technical advice to consider the
seriousness of the situation if the international cable was to
fail.”
“From the business
community we call on the government to take all steps necessary to
extend the life of the network in this interim duration while
investment is prioritised. This could include giving a directive to
Telikom to reduce the stress on the cable network and spread more of
the international connections through the satellite network. This
would work out a little more expensive in the short term but lead to
major long term nationwide savings.”
“We in PNG should
not take an inflated view of the size of the PNG network. For
example the whole of PNG Telikom is smaller than Cairns.” That’s the
perspective of the PNG minnow in the international scheme.
“About PNG Telikom,
how about some action on matters we need to upgrade? Let’s minimize
political point scoring and have the telephones including mobile
phones working reasonably. Forget about waiting for privatisation to
be worked out. We need to move immediately. When can this be
expected? We do not care whose fault it is. Just get on with it.”
A second major
issue discussed at the PNGCCI Annual General Meeting was the
unprofessional attitude of some provincial or local level
governments who have increased their rates and licenses by 1,000
percent with no real concern at the viability of the business
sector. It appears that all those local governments are doing is
reducing the number of businesses. We understand their need for
income but the application should be fair and reasonable.
The smaller
Chambers also raised matters which have been ongoing concerning
electricity, permanent residential status and the implementation of
the recent foreign exchange easing.
The recent
announcements by the original landowners in Madang and now, Port
Moresby are a major concern.
What is the
Provincial and National Government doing about the every increasing
compensation claims?
A firm and fair
approach should be announced including laws to minimize land claim
problems are needed.
Issued by Michael
Mayberry
President, PNGCCI
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