You have been connected! and It’s about time

or anyone who has visited or worked in Papua New Guinea, you will know how slow and intermittent the internet connection can be. Whilst it’s nice to disconnect when you’re on holidays, for the locals and industry professionals who are trying to conduct business in the country, it makes many tasks extremely difficult.

The state-owned PNG Data Co and telecom giant Huawei put into place a project that would drastically improve the service speeds and connectivity issues in the country. The first stage of the Kumul Domestic Cable, a fibre optic cable connection from Port Moresby to Madang, via Alotau, Popendetta and Lae has already been completed.

The project will direct 5,457km of internet cable to link 14 provinces through two main national data centres that will be located in Port Moresby and Madang.

The entire rehaul of the data network in the country is due to be completed by June this year and for a full break down of projected location completion and updates refer to the table below:

As the network in Papua New Guinea is about to receive a long overdue upgrade, I thought I would outline three key areas how this project will directly affect you if you are living or do business in PNG.

1. Stable and reliable network service.

The most noticeable change will be to the overall speed and strength of your connection to the upgraded network. The KSCN data network is replacing previously outdated technologies with new fibre optic cables that provide, in technical terms; a maximum capacity of 20 terabytes per second and an initial available capacity of 100Gbps. What you need to know, is that it will be a lot faster and drop out a lot less.

2. Price reduction to internet services in the country.

The KSCN data network introduces additional network gateways through Indonesia and Asia, where as before there was only one directed through Australia. The additional gateways mean that there will be more service providers to choose from, which will allow for competition in pricing rather than just having one option. This will create more affordable and accessible internet access and increase the number of the population that are utilising the internet.

3. Digital economy and socio-economic progress

The KSCN data network is the product of a successful relationship agreement between PNG and China. The loan china offered PNG for the project, was to develop the countries digital infrastructure and will help pave the way for long term development in the country. The additional technologies, platforms and services that will now be able to be used in the country by individuals and companies will have immediate positive impacts.

As I write this article to update you on the progress of the KSCN network and some of the many benefits that it will provide to the area, there is one other major part that I am yet to mention.

This project will bring the biggest changes to the It & technologies division in the country since its initiation. The increased data speed and strength will broaden the services, technologies and platforms that industry professionals can use to their advantage and market their products and services in new ways.

I sense large growth in It, marketing and communications roles, as the country will learn to make the most of this new network. I myself grew up in PNG and to only think that if this network was available to me while I was studying, I would have been given me so many more learning opportunities.

If you would like to further discuss the content of this article or any positions that I currently have available in Papua New Guinea, please don’t hesitate to contact me: mark@peopleconnexion.com