The rural people of Elaptamin in the Teleformin district have been connected to the outside world through a public private partnership between Digicel and the member for Teleformin, Solan Mirisin.
A new Digicel tower was officially opened yesterday by the member and representatives from Digicel PNG.
Shent Kiddie from the Digicel government relations team said the tower was recently built through a partnership between Digicel and the government.
The launch yesterday saw huge crowds of people from 16 villages within 5 council wards gather to celebrate this event.
There are about 10,000 people living in the Elaptamain area but there was no mobile coverage for many years.
“The MP has taken the initiative to work with our team to fund a tower under the programme so that people in this area can receive Digicel’s coverage. People are happy now that they have access to communication to the outside world,” said Shent Kiddie.
Bill Damkal, a village elder in Elaptamin was welcomed this service and said they have for the first time in many years see services.
He said the villagers climb mountains and walk for more than 12 hours to find coverage to make phone calls.
He thanked the local MP Solan Mirisim for making it easy for them by bringing this service to their door steps.
Photo: MP Hon.Solan Mirisin with Digicel PNG Government Relations representative Shent Kiddie holding hands together to cut the ribbon to officially launch the tower.