Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Minister Timothy Masiu said a third network service run by Digitec Communications Ltd will begin before the end of the year.
Masiu made the remarks during a recent visit to Digitec's headquarters in Waigani, Port Moresby.
The building of over 1,100 towers is expected to be completed, according to Digitec's chief executive officer Pradeep Lal and chief technical officer Justine Prakash, and once fully operational, up to 1,000 new jobs will be available, ranging from sales and marketing to engineering and ICT-specific jobs.
Masiu said the site visit had given the ICT ministry renewed faith that Digitec's operator license would be fully capitalised by the end of the year when the Vodafone PNG brand is introduced.
The minister was also pleased with the effect that a third operator would have on the public.
“I am delighted to inform the public that the introduction of a third mobile network operator will bring in much-needed competition to the market to drive retail prices down for the benefit of our people,” he said. “We’ve also done our independent assessments and we believe mobile coverage could easily jump from 42 per cent to 85 per cent within one year after the launch of the third operator. This means that more of our people will have access to communication services at a cheaper rate. In addition, this should finally trigger regulated tower sharing pricing and mobile number portability in early 2022 and so it is truly exciting times ahead for all of us.”
