Digicel warns PNG phone costs will rise
Updated
The Irish-owned mobile phone company, Digicel, says the costs of international phone calls in Papua New Guinea are likely to increase dramatically.
Digicel chief executive Kevin O'Sullivan spoke to Radio Australia's Jemima Garrett, after the PNG government passed a law effectively blocking the firm's ability to operate in the country.
The new legislation gives Digicel's PNG rival, Telikom, a monopoly over international phone links.
Mr O'Sullivan says that since his company entered the PNG market last year, international call costs to some destinations have come down from US50c a minute to US0.3c.
He says he is concerned that with the monopoly given to the government-owned Telikom, call rates will go back up, and that with so many new phone customers trying to use one international link there could be falls in quality and problems with congestion.
Mr O'Sullivan says Digicel is considering a legal challenge to the government's legislation.
"I think that we will look at all the legal avenues that are open to us," he said.
"It's important to us to ensure that full open competition remains as a key element of the industry and we will look at every option we have to do that."
