Source: The National, Thursday, March 28,  2013 
 
 By GYNNIE KERO

TELIKOM PNG says it will reduce the wholesale internet price from 9t to 3t per mega bit – by about 68% – to make the service available and affordable to everyone, chief executive officer Charles Litau announced yesterday.
Litau said the plan to reduce the internet wholesale price would be effective next month, adding that Telikom expected internet service providers (ISPs) to sign up and pass the reduction to consumers at the retail end of the market.
He said Telikom could still go low on the rate and depending on demand, this capacity might be increased to 1.5 giga bits per second or more.
“Lowering of the internet rate is the second tier to our plan and is only the start of our journey to make internet accessible to all,” he said.
“It applies specifically to ISPs.
“On this note, it is my pleasure to announce that the effective wholesale internet rate will be reduced to 68% from the current rate.
“By April, price will go down.
“Let us all assure our customers that Telikom now has doubled the bandwidth capacity to 615 mega bits per second to connect to its upstream internet providers in Australia and Asia to improve customer experience.”
Litau said Telikom had also made investments in developing its infrastructure, including the submarine cables from Madang to Guam and Australia.
He said the Telikom board made a commitment to make internet affordable for Papua New Guineans in February last year.
Telikom started the process in January to ensure that the pricing and packaging regimes were restructured.
Chairman Mahesh Patel said despite media reports criticising the current internet price rates, work had been ongoing to reduce the cost.
“These reductions will be offered on Telikom wholesale new plans to ISPs,” he said.
“The plans offer a range of bandwidths for ISPs ranging from a minimum of 5 mega bits per second to 155 mega bits per second.
“The reduction on internet will not have an impact until it’s rolled out and ISPs come on board.”