Thursday, 17th November, 2011 - Port Moresby

Picture Caption: Telikom PNG's new Smart Citifon - Huaweii 68650 going for K699 + free K20 credits

A new touch of life with Citifon
Citifon unveils the Huawei C8650 Touch Phone

Pondering a smart gift this Christmas for that special someone well Telikom today unveiled the Citifon smart phone that will commence sales at Telikom Business Officers in various centres around the country.

Telikom Acting Chief of Commercial – Kone Kula in unveiling the Smart Citifon said it’s been seven (7) months since the Citifon brand was launched and customers’ response has been overwhelming and the excitement is still intact as new products are brought to the market.

“This smart Citifon will be selling for the introductory offer of K699.00 along with a bonus of K20 free Telikad. For corporate customers, we are also introducing Citifon’s Post Paid Smart Plans where with every post paid plan you sign up for 12 months, the customers gets a free Smart Citifon,” Mr Kula remarked.

He added the Huawei C8650 comes with exciting features with the stand out feature being the Wifi (hotspot) network support that can be shared with multiple users. Thus, laptops and PCs with Wifi enabled systems are able to pick up internet connectivity in the presence of a Citifon smart phone.

Huawei Country Marketing Manager – Lee Pokarop said the Smart Phone is part of the android family that is an operating system for mobile devices such as smartphones that is developed by Google. This allows the device to have a larger platform, VGA (Video Graphic Array), 3D graphic library and with the service utilizing the CDMA 3rd generation technology; customers can expect and experience faster internet connectivity.

Telikom Chief Executive Officer – Peter Loko said its exciting times ahead for the company and customers can expect to share that excitement as Telikom continues to roll out innovative products such as the smart phone.

“Citifon since its introduction to the market has been an exciting brand and its affordable rates has customers appreciating the service. The Citifon network at present cover over 5000 communities and this is being expanded as our technical team is installing base stations in some centres around the country,” Mr Loko remarked.

He added that while our customers can enjoy our most affordable rate, it’s the festive season and in appreciation to our loyal customers Telikom has launched Christmas campaigns reducing its already low prepaid rates for the next two months in the festive season.

Thursday, 17th November, 2011 - Port Moresby

Picture Caption: Mr Singh talking Ms Todd through E-Bill Application to access her company’s telephone billing account with Mr Loko looking on.

Telikom going Green with Customer E-Bill Application
Appropriate budgeting of Phone Bills owing to easy online access to phone bill statement

Telikom PNG today launched its customer electronic bill application intended to cut down customers waiting time to receive telephone bills and reduce volumes of billing pages posted to customers.

Telikom Chief Executive Officer – Peter Loko said with the company’s effort to step forward to going green with the E-Bill application. He said the E-Bill application will reduce the huge amount of paper being used to print bills to post to customers while at the same time reduce the cost of printing and postage.

“But most importantly providing convenience and efficiency for customers to access their bill statement if and when necessary in the convenience of their offices or at home,” Mr Loko remarked.

Telikom’s Chief Information Officer – Eugene Singh in providing an overview of the E-Bill application said the E-bill is designed to provide online access to PDF bills at any time (24/7) with the E-Bill Notification by email as to the availability of new bill on Web Self-Care on Telikom’s website.

“The E-Bill concept is to counter Telikom’s challenge to reduce waiting time for customers to receive bills via post; postage delay means shorter time for customers to make payments and credit control actions where sometimes good customers are penalized for late payment.”

“We already have 2, 000 customers that have registered for our web self care and we are urging our other valued customers to register with an email registration@telikompng.com.pg for your bill notification,” Mr Singh remarked

Having gone through the presentation the 2011 Women in Business Awardee – Sarah Haoda Todd the owner of Lae EverClean was given the honor to try out the E-Bill application for your company phone bill account.

“This is a good initiative from the Telikom and that provides convenience to customers like myself while at the same time this will allow my accounts team to budget appropriately for telephone bills and I am sure it will be welcomed by other business houses,” Ms Todd

To registration for the E-Bill application the customers are email registration@telikompng.com.pg and to access the E-Bill visit the Web Self-Care through Telikom website on www.telikompng.com.pg.

Monday, 21st November, 2011 - Port Moresby

Picture Caption: Books Galore Delighted students of Mainowiga Primary school, Inland Rigo – Central Province, show off the books donated by Telikom Foundation together with Foundation CEO Brian Sam (right).

Telikom Foundation donates books to inland Rigo School
Telikom Foundation brings the world closer to children of remote Mainowiga Primary School

Telikom Foundation in its continued support to schools in providing enabled technological literacy solutions also maintains a high regard in promoting literacy through books.

The Foundation last Saturday donated books comprising of reading and learning material to Mainowiga Primary school in inland Rigo, Central Province.

Telikom Foundation CEO Brian Sam said the donation was timely for the isolated school where the harsh road conditions and geographical setting denied them access to libraries in the city or nearby schools where there are library facilities.

Mr. Sam said through books, the students can improve their reading skills and open up new learning horizons.

The donation coincided with the schools pioneer batch of grade 8 students’ luncheon held at the school grounds. Mr. Sam who was impressed with the reception of the students and teachers challenged them to uphold their determination to reach their full education potential.

“I see hope in this place. Irrespective of the remoteness of this school, there is a bright future for you all. It is evident in your motivation to learn and bring out the best from the limited resources you have at such a remote school.” Mr. Sam told the students.

Mr. Sam also challenged parents who gathered to witness the donation to send all their children both boys and girls to school. He reiterated that they were already showing that commitment to their children’s education which was visible with the school passing out its pioneer batch of grade 8 students and it was important that they maintain this regard for their children’s education.

The school board chairman Mauri Pole said the donation would go a long way for the students and their teachers. “These books will help the students in their learning and not only will it assist students from Mainowiga village but also neighbouring villages like Dirikomana, Korunowu, Kemakoma, Omanagoro and Didiga since Mainowiga Primary School is serving these villages.”

Mainowiga Primary School is a United Church base school founded in 1973 and reopened in 2006. The school will see its first batch of grade 8 students sit for the Certificate of Basic Education Examination this week. The school has a total enrollment of 127 students from grade 3 -8 of which 21 make up the graduating class of grade 8.

Thursday, 29th September, 2011 - Port Moresby

Picture Caption: Telikom employees displaying with their accomplishment certificates after graduating from the in-house MS Excel Training in Port Moresby.

16 MORE GRADUATE FROM TELIKOM’S IN-HOUSE MICROSOFT EXCEL TRAINING PROGRAM
MS Excel training participants awarded certificates of achievement

After a week of an in-house training, 16 employees from Telikom PNG received their certificates yesterday to mark the end of their training in Microsoft Excel.

The participants are part of the fourth batch to have undergone and graduated from the MS Excel Intermediate training facilitated by Hedwig Bob who is the personal assistant to Telikom PNG’ CEO Peter Loko. Hedwig ran three similar Excel Skills training for Telikom PNG staff previously. The training was part of Telikom’s drive to build internal capacity for Learning and Development interventions in improving the performance of its employees.

Participants were from various departments in Telikom including Customer Care, Network and the Telikom’s Business Offices in Boroko and Downtown, Port Moresby.

The training participants were congratulated for a successful week of training and the effort that each of them had put into the training and, were presented their certificates at the Telikom Rumana Headquarters in Port Moresby.

Telikom PNG CEO-Peter Loko said;
“As part of our Mission’s core values, we believe in investing in our employees’ personal and professional development and this training is part of it. We believe that our employees are the key to achieving change and transformation in Telikom PNG; therefore, we invest in you all to move the company forward. Also, we believe in involving our internal resources to carry out in-house trainings that not only save cost but also further develop our own employees to be competent in other professional areas as well as the jobs that they are currently doing.”

The course participants were glad to have taken part in the training and said that they have learnt a lot. Kila Karo from the Admin Desk in the Customer Care Department thanked HR for arranging this training. He said;
‘I am glad I took up this training as I have learnt a lot of new things from it. This training will definitely go a long way in assisting me with the monthly reports that I put together for my team leaders and management.”

Other participants of the training were also thankful to Telikom for such trainings that will now enable them to gain important skills and knowledge that they can now apply in their daily tasks at the workplace.

A total of 54 employees have undergone and graduated from the MS Excel Intermediate training arranged by Telikom’s Human Resources Department and facilitated by Hedwig Bob, the personal assistant to Telikom PNG’ CEO Peter Loko so far. The fifth batch will commence their training soon.

Monday, 15th August, 2011

Picture Caption: : The first batch of Telikom PNG’s soon-to-be retired staff and their spouses who attended the weeklong viability and counselling training last week to assist them plan for a life after Telikom.

TELIKOM PNG RUNS VIABLITY AND COUNSELLING TRAINING FOR ITS RETRENCHED WORKFORCE
Telikom assists its retrenched employees plan for a life after Telikom

As part of its redundancy program called the Voluntary Exit Scheme (VES), Telikom PNG has involved the first batch of its soon-to-be retrenched employees and their spouses in the various training and counselling programs to assist them prepare for a life after Telikom.

About 37 outgoing employees and their spouses last week undertook the various courses and counselling designed under VES which was aimed at enabling them to be provided with additional knowledge about business life to assist them to continue to be viable in the country and at the same time, still connected to the Telikom family through business partnership with the company into the future.

Within the weeklong program last week, the soon-to-be retrenched staff and their spouses undertook Personal Viability, Psychological Therapy, Counselling and Business Training/Product Knowledge and Reseller Sign up with the company.

When addressing the course participants at the end of the program last Friday, Telikom PNG’s Chief of Human Resource-Paul Tevlone said: “This courses that you have undertaken is very important for you as you leave Telikom. It helps prepare you for a life after Telikom; what you can do for yourself after you leave. There have been many success stories of people who are now very successful in their own businesses after retiring from a life of official employment with Telikom. The VES Program was last carried out in the last retrenchment about 30 years ago so it might not be carried out in the next ten, 20 or even 30 years from now. We are proud that you are part of this year’s program that will help you and your family go a long way even after Telikom.”

Telikom PNG is one of the many government and related statutory bodies that are going through a major change and transformation right now. Close to about 500 employees will be retrenched from Telikom this year. The first lot to be retrenched and released from the company will be next month.

Thursday, 8th August, 2011

Picture Caption: : AFL PNG National Football Operations Manager -Walter Yangomina (far left) and Telikom PNG’s Chief Commercial Officer-Ajay Mathur (far right) and members of the PNG Mozzies with the cheque during the presentation this morning.

TELIKOM PNG BEHIND NATIONAL AFL TEAM-PNG MOZZIES

PNG’s nationally-owned company, Telikom PNG has pledged its support for the PNG Mozzies in cash for the upcoming 2011 AFL International Cup (IC) to be held in Australia this month.

Telikom’ sponsorship will assist the team who are set to attend the event which will commence on August 15 in Sydney and Melbourne.

Telikom PNG’s partnership with AFL PNG goes back to 2008 when it was then the naming right sponsor of the team the ‘Telikom PNG Mozzie’ that brought home the AFL International Cup after a thrilling beat of the New Zealand Falcons.

Telikom PNG’s Chief Commercial Officer-Ajay Mathur said: “As a nationally owned telecommunications company we support the team as it takes on other international teams that come from developed countries that may have better sporting facilities back home but it’s the team commitment, good team coordination of skills that will pay in the end. And we believe the team has these in store to bring home the results.”

“On behalf of the Board, Management and Staff of Telikom PNG we wish the team all the best in your campaign into the 2011 AFL International Cup,” he added.

AFL PNG National Football Operations Manager -Walter applauded Telikom for its ongoing support for AFL PNG. He said; “With the support that Telikom had given us, we are determined to showcase the Telikom brand during the tournament in Australia. The boys have shown their best on the field before and we look forward to showcasing that same team effort and game passion for PNG, our sponsors and ourselves during the tournament.”

PNG will be sending a men’s and women’s team to compete in the tournament. It is also the first time that PNG will send a women’s team to compete in the IC, the men having been involved for over a decade.

The men’s teams in the past have shown much success, having brought home the cup in 2008 and hopes are now high for both teams. The PNG Mozzies left for the tournament in Australia yesterday.

Telikom over the years has been supporting numerous sporting codes for social and human development yet pleasing to note that majority of these teams sponsored by Telikom have been victorious in their respective competitions.

Recent example of this is the PNG Barramundis cricket team that was the champion of the ICC East Asia Pacific cricket championship that last month. Other successful international teams include the Telikom PNG Kumuls and the PNG Pepes along with the Telikom National Soccer League.

Thursday, 8th August, 2011

Picture Caption: : One of Telikom PNG’s main copper cables that were vandalized on Monday night at Garden Hills along the Central Waigan Drive in Port Moresby.

VANDALS ATTACK AGAIN AT TELIKOM CABLES IN PORT MORESBY
Major cable cuts affect more than 2,000 customers in Port Moresby

More than 2,000 customers from residential areas and business houses along Waigani Drive and Gordons are without vital communication services as of Monday night due to another vandalism of Telikom PNG’s vital telecommunication cables.

As a result of this, voice and data communication services to these areas have been disrupted until Telikom fixes the damage by replacing the expensive cables cut and stolen. This process takes about a week but depends on the extent of the damage and Telikom staff had been working around the clock since this morning to resolve the issue.

Two main cables containing 1800 pairs of copper cables each were cut; one servicing more than 1000 and the other more than 900 clients.

This is the major cable cut to be done to the nationally-owned company so far and is estimated to cost the company between K100, 000 to K500, 000 in the cost of repair which does not include the loss of revenue from Telikom during now until the date the issue is rectified. . The main areas affected include business houses along the Waigani Drive which are the Vulupindi Haus, Holiday Inn, Islander Village, Heritage Haus, National AIDS, Lamana Hotel, Aopi Haus, May Bank and Mutual Rumana. Others include the Gordons Industrial area and Gabaka St area, Stop N Shop, Paradise Foods, Daltron, ANZ Waigani, Datec Building, Boroko Motors, CPL Hardware area.

Telikom PNG CEO, Peter Loko made an appeal to the general public to stop the vandalism on vital telephone cable lines around the country as they are important for the constant flow of vital communication services to both residents and business houses. He said:

“Our telephone cables are very expensive and vital to maintain communication for everyone around the country. Vandalism of such company properties by a small group of people affects a lot of innocent customers, business houses, and public institutions by depriving them from receiving a daily vital service. Help us help you by reporting vandalism on cables today.”

This is the third such occurrence in Waigani within the past three months for Telikom cables to be sabotaged. Telikom PNG is therefore urging nationalistic public to report any sighting of such criminal activity to the police or Telikom internal security on 3005802 or 3004024 as these cables are part of our national telecommunications infrastructure. The public can also call the Customer Care Data Faults hotline on 1514.Telikom Customer Care services are available 24/7 on the new hotline 3456789.

Restoration works have commenced and full restoration of the telephone and data services in these affected areas is aimed to be achieved by next week due to the extensive nature of the damage. Meanwhile, the police are also investigating into this. Telikom PNG sincerely apologizes for any inconvenience caused.

Tuesday, 12th July, 2011 - Port Moresby

Photo Caption: Telikom Foundation CEO – Brian Sam along with Telikom PNG CEO and club past president Peter Loko in attendance for the 44th Rotary Club of Boroko changeover dinner.

The changeover now sees Vaghi Gairowagga lead the club as the 44th president taking over Bill Crain. In his term as president, Mr Crain has overseen a number of projects and fundraisings namely the Melbourne Cup, Completion of Daumagini Water project, 100’s Club raffles and hosting a visit by D.G Eric Wood and taking him to see the UPNG clinic for improvement. Telikom Foundation with support from Telikom PNG will be looking at partnering with the club to provide and promote literacy with internet enabled technologies to educational institutions.

Tuesday, 12th July, 2011 - Lae

Photo Caption: Spelling it out -Telikom PNG staff from the Lae Business Office last Friday showed off their pride in being part of the Telikom PNG family from Lae, celebrating Telikom PNG’s 56th Anniversary. Pictured are some of the Lae Telikom staff welcoming Telikom PNG’s Chief Commercial Officer, Ajay Mathur to officially open the celebrations for the day at the Sir Ignatius Kilage Stadium, last Friday.

Telikom in Port Moresby held its 56th Anniversary celebrations on July 1.

Friday, 8th July, 2011

Photo Caption: Telikom PNG Chief Commercial Officer, Ajay Mathur remarks on exciting times ahead for mobile telephony with Citifon slashing call rates for Papua New Guineans to keeping saying ‘yello’ across all networks.

CITIFON CREATES BIG BREAKING NEWS
Call rates to other mobile networks now at 39 toea all day all night

Youngsters nationwide are already singing to the yello beat and now the breaking news with Citifon is set to be welcoming news for everyday Papua New Guinean with 39 toea per minute call rate to other mobile networks all day and all night commencing next Monday, July 11.

Telikom PNG Chief Commercial Officer, Ajay Mathur said in the company’s mission to make telecommunication services affordable for all Papua New Guineans, Citifon has announced its 39 toea all day all night call rate, that is Citifon customers can call Digicel and Bemobile for only 39 toea per minute any time.

“As a truly nationally owned company we are making it happen by offering the best rates to our customers through our mobile service, Citifon. Not only do customers enjoy these call rates but it’s the first for the industry in Papua New Guinea to come up with such low call rates and we are excited by this and we are sure that customers will be thrilled with this offer. This also means vast improvement in the industry for all the people of Papua New Guinea to be part of the global village as Telikom PNG is offering this service on its 3G wireless CDMA network.”

The Citifon service is available in all centres where there is Telikom 3G wireless CDMA coverage although at this stage the primary sales point for Citifon has been in Lae and Port Moresby.

Mr. Mathur remarked that the customer demand for Citifon has been overwhelming not only in Lae and Port Moresby but smaller centres as well. Meanwhile Telikom PNG has also introduced a number of valued added features to Citifon such as the of the Bank South Pacific SMS Banking and music channel.

“Our all day all night call rate of 2 toea and I toea sms with Citifon to Citifon has mothers and fathers purchasing phones for the whole family to simply minimize the cost of staying in touch with loved ones, and that’s the real beauty of Citifon – economic for the whole family and that’s what everyday Papua New Guineans will afford.”

“Corporate entities and small to medium entrepreneurs will also be saving hefty costs with Citifon being used by their staff,” Mr Mathur added.

There is a range of Citifon handset available in Telikom Business Offices with price ranging from K79 to K199.Telikom PNG is also offering favourably prepaid data rate at just 29 toea per mega byte all day and all night for its range of data products available on X’cess internet, Wimax and ADSL.

About Citifon
CitiFon is Telikom’s newly-launched mobile service operating on its 3G wireless CDMA network. CitiFon offers unbeatable SMS and call rates at only 1 toea and 2 toea respectively for CitiFon to CitiFon. The CitiFon mobile service is available in over 5,000 communities across the country that has access to Telikom’s 3G network coverage. With CitiFon, customers can also enjoy affordable internet rates at only 29 toea per Mb all day and all night. Top-up of CitiFons can be done using both the Rait and Telikad scratch cards. For more information, call Telikom’s new Customer Care hotline on 3456789.

5th July, 2011 - Port Moresby   

Picture Caption: Happy birthday Telikom! Benedict Yegigori (centre) together with the other birthday boys cut their cake during Telikom PNG’s 56th anniversary celebration last Friday. Benedict among the rest was born on the same date as the establishment of Telikom PNG on, July 1, 1955.

TELIKOM CELEBRATES IN STYLE

What better way there is to celebrate a birthday then with your employer? It was more than a double celebration for Telikom PNG and its staff during its 56th anniversary last Friday in Port Moresby.

As part of the celebrations, Telikom PNG also acknowledged its staff whose birthdays fell on the anniversary day. Out of the nine employees, Benedict Yegigori stood out sharing his birthday with Telikom PNG turning a big 56 years old on the day.

It was even more special for Benedict Yegigori who was flown in from the Madang Telikom Business Office by the Human Resource division to cut the anniversary cake at Telikom Rumana with other colleagues who share the same birthday.

Apart from the birthday acknowledgements Telikom had a blast of extravagant activities for its Port Moresby employees

The hype of entertainment got off the hook at Telikom Rumana in the morning and employees swung into the excitement when they stepped into the Telikom Rumana building.

Staff were colorfully attired in extravagant costumes and Telikom corporate colors as well as the Citifon brand color yellow and a few were dressed as their favorite celebrities.

The Citifon song got them strut their stuff before the main part of the event unfolded with employees who have served the company for more than thirty years awarded their certificates for long service to Telikom PNG.

To top off the celebrations, the Sir John Guise Indoor complex came alive in the evening with a spectacular of live entertainment from the likes of Patti Doi, Bula Talei band, Toniq band featuring Liesel and Alyson Joyce to name a few which sparked the excitement in the employees.

More acknowledgements of staff especially the four longest serving employees were rewarded with gifts for their dedicated service to the company for over forty years.

The 56th anniversary celebrations did not end last week. It will be picking up the fever again for this Friday where other Telikom Business Offices nationwide will also celebrate this event.

5th May, 2011 - Port Moresby   

(Left to Right): Telikom PNG’s Head of Commercial-Xavier Victor congratulates the winner of the first Citifon Dance Off challenge, xxx xxxx. The event was launched and staged at the Lamana Gold Club last Friday.

TELIKOM PNG LAUNCHED DANCE OFF CHALLENGE

Telikom PNG under its recently-launched mobile phone service-Citifon, launched the ‘Citifon Dance Off’ challenge where K25, 000 is up for grabs for the best dancers in town.

The competition was launched last week Friday in-partnership with the Lamana Gold Club and judging from the turn-out during the first dance off, it sure attracted a good number of young participants among the crowd of party-goers present during the night.The competition is a first-of-its-kind for Telikom PNG and is anticipated to attract a lot of youngsters from all over Port Moresby to enter and try their shot at a quarter of a million prize money.

Telikom’s Chief Commercial Officer-Ajay Mathur said; “Our Citifon brand represents the young and vibrant part of PNG and we would like to involve, as much as possible, our youngsters in activities that they love doing. PNG has a lot of hidden talents and this initiative allows us to bring out the best in these youngsters thus allowing them to also make something out of themselves as well.”

This month starts the prequalifying Fridays where 20 dancers participate each night with one winner of a Citifon mobile phone and who also qualify to be in the K25,000 dance off grand final challenge at the end of year.The competition starts at 10pm till 11pm every Friday with 20 free-style dancers strutting their stuff on the dance floor. Other dance styles open in the competititon include B-Boy stunts, Pop lockers and Breakers. The competition encompass a one-on-one battle of dancers to qualify for the end-of-year Citifon Dance Off challenge to be staged in December.

In this competition the party crowd decides who gets to win each dance off. Out of a maximum of 20 participants of the night, only three make it into the second dance trial where the best one is again selected by the crowd.The winner of the night wins a consolatiton Citifon handset courtesy of Telikom PNG.

Out of all the participants in each dance off , the three best dancers selected during the first trial run automatically qualify for the final dance off in December where all dancers from each dance off within the year get to compete for a grand prize money of K25, 000.

In addititon, The Telikom Citifon team will be setting up sales stall and ten minutes of free internet service at the Gold Club on Fridays and Saturdays evenings where anyone can have a go on Telikom’s WiMax internet service.

For more information on the Citifon Dance Off Challenge and how to enter, interested persons can contact Jacquie from Lamana on email: goldclub@lamana.com.pg

5th Juy, 2011 - Port Moresby   

(Left to Right): Telikom PNG’s young manageress Faye-Zina Lalo receiving her award from Chief Commercial Officer Taito Tabaleka during the Telikom PNG’s 56th anniversary celebrations last Friday.

TELIKOM AWARDS YOUNG MANAGERS

As part of Telikom PNG’s 56th anniversary celebrations last Friday, employees were rewarded for their services to the growth of the company. While the longest serving employees were recognized for their immense contributions to Telikom PNG for over thirty (30) years; the younger employees were also rewarded for their achievements.

The award category of ‘Young Manageress and Manager was one of them. Lume Polume from the Tariff, Pricing & Interconnection Section took out the young manager while colleague Fay-Zina Lalo was the recipient of the young manageress award.

Faye is the manager for the Regulatory Section, under the Corporate Services Division and was recently appointed as a trainee Board of Director with Nasfund Limited for 2011 – 2012.

5th July, 2011 - Pomio, East New Britain Province   

Left to Right: Minister for National Planning & District Development, Hon. Tiensten making a test call on the X’cess fixed wireless handset in Masarau, Pomio district with Mr Loko looking on.

MASARAU IN POMIO DISTRICT SAYS YELLO WITH CITIFON

A day after its 56th anniversary, Telikom PNG was in Masarau, Pomio district in East New Britain province to launch its 3G wireless CDMA network.

Member for Pomio and Minister for National Planning and Rural Development, Hon Paul Tiensten funded the project totaling K5.8 million for a total of seven CDMA sites to be installed in the district.

Masarau is the first site to be installed and launched over the weekend with Peter Loko – Telikom PNG CEO visiting the Oil Palm estate accompanying Hon. Tiensten to officially launch Telikom PNG’s 3G wireless CDMA service.

Citifon, the latest mobile service on the market along with X’cess internet dongle for high speed internet connectivity and X’cess fixed wireless telephony are the services now available for the community in and around Masarau.

Hon. Tiensten in challenging his people to look after the infrastructure provided by Telikom PNG remaindered his people that these are developments that you dream of having it happen and now its here that you are able to have access to the internet like those in the towns and cities.

“This is a life changer for us in Pomio. You can be on par with the rest of the world despite lack of road access but with improved telecommunications services the world is brought close to you. Everything is linked and you live in a world that is integrated,” Mr Tiensten remarked.

Mr Loko reiterated that there are many possibilities with the system installed to bring about wealth of development into the district. He made mention of poverty alleviation with banking services a value added feature on the system where the people of Masarau can save K200 from a return trip into Kokopo and also avoid 4 hour boat ride that is risk in times of high seas.

I want to acknowledge Hon. Tiensten for valued leadership in funding this project and other similar parliamentarians that have invested in telecommunications services for their people. We are committed to the economic corridor concept and we putting the money where our mouth to ensure affordable and extensive coverage service to our people,” Mr Loko said.

A total of 600 Citifon and X’cess wireless telephones were sold on the first day while the community are enjoying the affordable Citifon call rates of 2toea per minute and 1 toea sms.