The Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (ICCC) is concerned with the arrangement between Telikom PNG and PNG DataCo.
In a media statement, Commissioner and CEO, Paulus Ain, said the ICCC was worried that the arrangement may raise potential competition issues.
This follows a report in one of the local dailies that Telikom and PNG DataCo had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to make available domestic and international cable capacity to each other on their infrastructure under a normal commercial arrangement.
“Telikom and DataCo are the only two companies in PNG who own fibre optic cables and are also competitors at the wholesale level for the supply of data. As such, any arrangements between these two companies without the approval or authorisation of the ICCC can give rise to potential competition concerns,” said Ain.
Telikom PNG, PNG DataCo, as well as bmobile, under a government directed restructure, will be merged under a single entity called Kumul Telikom, but will however, remain individually intact.
Minister for National Planning & Monitoring, and Acting Minister for Public Investment and State Enterprise, Charles Abel, said early this year that the merger would allow for a cost-effective sharing of resources and market intelligence, save costs, and harness synergies between the three telcos.
“A simple example of the efficiency is that the three telcos will share basic infrastructure such as towers throughout the country. It means we can roll more towers to the greater benefit of all, providing more services at a lower cost,” said Abel.