PNG telcos Telikom and Vodafone sign historic network-sharing pact

 PNG telcos Telikom and Vodafone sign historic network-sharing pact

Papua New Guinea's two biggest mobile network operators have put aside years of head-to-head rivalry to sign a groundbreaking infrastructure-sharing pact that both companies say will drive down costs and push mobile coverage into parts of the country that have never had a signal.

Telikom PNG and Vodafone PNG this week formalised a Co-Location and Network-Sharing Agreement, under which the two rivals will begin sharing towers, fibre routes and other physical network assets rather than each building separate infrastructure in the same locations.

 

Telikom PNG Chief Executive Officer Amos Tepi called the agreement a first for the country's telecommunications industry, saying it proved that two competing companies could work together in ways that put the interests of ordinary Papua New Guineans first.

A key feature of the deal is a shift to what is known as a "bill and keep" interconnection model. Under the new system, subscribers on either network will no longer have interconnection charges attached to calls and texts made between Telikom and Vodafone numbers, a change expected to make cross-network communication noticeably cheaper for everyday users.

Mr Tepi thanked Vodafone PNG for signing on to the arrangement, describing it as proof of the genuine partnership underpinning the broader deal. He said the change would likely encourage more traffic to flow between the two networks now that customers would not be penalised for calling or texting across networks.

The agreement builds on interconnection arrangements the two companies struck back in 2022, which for the first time allowed subscribers on either network to call and message each other. Mr Tepi pointed to that earlier cooperation as evidence that rival companies working together could ultimately sharpen competition rather than dull it.

Infrastructure sharing sits at the heart of the new pact. Instead of Telikom and Vodafone each erecting separate towers in the same districts, the companies will now be able to draw on infrastructure already built by either side, cutting down on wasteful duplication.

Mr Tepi acknowledged that connecting Papua New Guinea has never been straightforward, given the country's rugged highlands, scattered islands and remote inland communities that remain out of reach of reliable telecommunications.

He said no single operator, working alone, could realistically solve PNG's connectivity gap, which is why bringing the two networks' resources together mattered so much for communities still waiting for basic mobile access.

Officials from both companies expect the arrangement to translate into faster infrastructure rollout, stronger signal strength and more dependable connections in areas currently underserved. Freed-up capital that would otherwise go toward duplicate towers, they say, can instead be redirected to villages and wards with little or no coverage at all.

Mr Tepi also credited the National Information and Communications Technology Authority and the Government for championing infrastructure sharing as a national priority, saying the Telikom-Vodafone agreement was a concrete step toward that policy vision.

He linked the deal to Telikom's broader push to reposition itself as a technology-driven company supporting PNG's expanding digital economy, referencing ongoing work with the Department of Information and Communications Technology on digital public infrastructure and connectivity projects reaching down to ward level.

Rollout of the agreement will happen in stages, with technical teams from both companies now working through site assessments to determine which towers, fibre routes and facilities can be shared and how they will be integrated.

Mr Tepi paid tribute to the engineers, lawyers and negotiators from both sides who spent months turning the concept into a signed agreement, describing the process as one that demanded patience and goodwill from both companies.

Looking ahead, Telikom and Vodafone will continue competing for customers on price, products and service quality, even as they cooperate behind the scenes on shared infrastructure — a model Mr Tepi believes could reshape how telecommunications competition works in PNG.

"Today is a good day for Papua New Guinea's telecommunications sector," Mr Tepi said.

"Papua New Guinea is not an easy country to connect," he added.

"Using every partnership available to us to close PNG's connectivity gap," Mr Tepi said.