Air fares could go down this week, but what about ISP charges?

Both Domestic and International airfares could go down this week which is great news for the traveling public in Papua New Guinea. According to the NBC "Air Niugini, expects to reduce its international and domestic sector fuel surcharges" between the 5th and 10th of January 2009 but is currently awaiting International Parity Pricing. This is great news for all Wantoks out there that are planning to do some air travel in 2009, and with the current competition that Air Niugini is facing from Airlines PNG and Virgin Pacific Blue we could see a decent drop in air fares in 2009. This is also in line with the current global oil prices that may help make air travel affordable in 2009.

I for one am a great supporter of competition and as a consumer 2008 was good year for competition both in the airline industry (Air Niugini/Qantas Vs Airlines PNG/Virgin Pacific Blue) and telecommunications industry (Digicel Vs B Mobile). But what I am hoping for in 2009 is for ICCC to give the go a head for Telikom or one of its subsidiaries to become a Internet Service Provider(ISP). Then hopefully we will see some real progress in the reduction of the astronomical prices that Papua New Guineans are charged by local ISP's.

If you compare what people in Papua New Guinea are charge by ISPs to other countries in the region you feel totally ripped off. For example iPrimus Speedster 6GB plan (broadband wireless) for 6 Gigabytes of downloads per month was advertised in the December 2008 NetGuide issue for $39.95 per month. So for arguments sake lets say that the current PNG Kina to Aus Dollar is 0.5. That would mean that this plan would be K79.90 per month, with speed reduction after you go over your limit so there would be no extra charges. Now if you were to look at Daltron's entry level standard wireless plan 64k - 100. Meaning that you get a 64kb link and you are allowed to use 100 Megabytes before you are charged K0.50 for every excess Megabyte. For a monthly fee of K225, you don't have to be a maths professor to feel that you are being ripped off in a big way. To Daltron's defence I must admit that here in Papua New Guinea, currently we do not have a half decent communications infrastructure and Daltron buys their data wholesale from Telikom so they can not go any lower then what Telikom charge them.

With these arguments in mind I am thinking that it is time for competition to enter the ISP market place in PNG. To give all the grassroot Wantoks out there a fighting chance to be able to get affordable internet access. The PNG government should treat internet access as commoditiy that all Papua New Guinean's should have and not something for the privilege Wantoks out there. More funding is need to help reduce the cost of Internet access to help make it more accessible to the general public in Papua New Guinea.

Telikom's ADSL Versus Daltron's Wireless

Telikom PNG is offering a great ADSL Broadband service compared to ISP's like Daltron. I have being using ADSL now for over three months and have had no major complaints. Over the last three months I have only had the system fail on me once and that was due to a power surge which knocked out the router. But with in a couple of days the problem had being resolved totally and I have not had any service provider problems since.

On the other hand before I swapped over to Telikom I was using Daltron's wireless service. The service worked fine when the Daltron DNS servers weren't down. Which I kid you not seemed to be like every other day. I also had a number of problems with the billing. Where Daltron on three separate occasions double billed me for bills that I had already paid. When Daltron's wireless service was up it worked fine, but due to the poor customer service that Daltron offers and the constant down time. I decided to take my business else where.

The swap to Telikom ADSL from Daltron's wireless has being great for the pocket. For example for a 1.5 Megabyte service at Telikom it cost about K170 per month that is with 500 Megabytes of downloads included. Now for a 512Kb plan with Daltron will cost you K1,250 per month with 2400 Megabytes of downloads included. The cost per Megabyte is Telikom = K0.32 per Mb and Daltron = K 0.52 per Mb. This does not take in to account that Telikom's service is a 1.5Mb link and the Daltron service is 512Kb service. The only good point about the Daltron Wireless service is that it provides more Megabyte before the excess Megabytes charging starts.

Now to be honest who in their right mind would not choose the Telikom ADSL service over the Daltron one. I for one have swapped over to Telikom and am really happy with the decision. Not only is it saving me in the pocket but Telikom's ADSL customer service is a lot better then Daltron's customer service. The only downside to this is that at the moment Telikom is not able to roll out their ADSL service to more customers because they are awaiting new equipment. I had to wait around 6 months to get installed. But it was worth the wait.

For all my Papua New Guinean Wantok's out there instead of wasting your money on Daltron's wireless service. If you get the chance swap over to Telikom's ADSL service and keep the money in PNG. Instead of giving it to an oversea's company that provides a poor service and charges you and arm and a leg for the privilege of getting a poor service.