Digitec Communications appears on track to launch mobile services in Papua New Guinea by the end of 2021.
According to local outlet The Post Courier, the operator has made significant progress in deploying infrastructure for 4G and 5G services, as confirmed during a site visit made by communications minister Timothy Masiu last week.
Masiu told the press: “I am delighted to inform the public that the introduction of a third [mobile operator] will bring in much-needed competition to the market and drive retail prices down for the benefit of our people.”
The minister noted that new regulations on mobile number portability and tower sharing costs would be required once a new operator entered the market, and that these would be implemented in early 2022.
Based in Port Moresby, Digitec Communications is part of the Digitec Group. As reported by TeleGeography, Fiji’s Amalgamated Telecom Holdings (ATH) acquired a 70% in the parent company in May 2019, before revealing in November that year that it planned a share offering to raise funding worth FJD120 million (US$55 million) to finance telecoms projects in Papua New Guinea.
In January 2020, local media cited government sources as saying that Digitec was deploying a mobile network using a licence issued “two years ago.” No indication was suggested of when this network could launch, although it has been suggested that Digitec’s commercial mobile services may be offered under the Vodafone PNG brand.