Vodafone’s Papua New Guinea unit has signed interconnection agreements with rivals Telikom and Digicel, a move to advance its status in the country and fulfil a government coverage demand.
National Information and Communications Technology (NICTA) CEO Kila Gulo-Viu said: “Telikom and Vodafone concluded an interconnection agreement last Wednesday. This is a very important development in the context of competition as both subscribers from these networks can talk to each other.
“Vodafone also has a separate interconnection agreement with Digicel. Vodafone customers can call and text all subscribers now, whether you are with Telikom/bmobile or Digicel,” reported The National.
Digicel PNG senior vice-president Lorna McPherson confirmed calls and texts between the two networks have connected and are operational.
Interconnection deals are a stipulation set by the government to ramp up Papua New Guinea’s low connectivity penetration levels. Mobile stands at 37% and broadband is around 20%, while neighbouring Fiji has coverage of almost 100%.
Vodafone PNG launched only last month and pledged to invest PGK3 billion (US$854m) into its infrastructure rollout.
