‘Landline phones still a vital part of a lot of businesses’
GLOBALLY, landline phones were starting to decline, according to Amalgamated Telecom Holdings Ltd CEO Ivan Fong.
He said volumes were going down, however; it was still an important part for a lot of businesses and a lot of the communities as well.
He added that locally, people who were not fully versed with the use of a smartphone still used a landline.
“But look, one of the things we are seeing in many markets as well is the landline voice phones being converted to broadband.
“So Telecom Fiji, for example, Vanuatu, in the Cook Islands, in Samoa, in American Samoa the landline is serving as the next step to connect a home via fixed broadband either a fibre or wireless type solution.
“So it’s just the evolution from a voice service to a broadband service.”
He said it was an interesting space to watch, as the success so far has been in rolling out the network.
“We are under no illusion that the PNG and many Pacific Island markets are challenging markets to work in.
“But one of the things we do have to recognise is each of these markets have opportunities out there that we need to take a look at.
Mr Fong added the population size of PNG was bigger than the population of the rest of the Pacific combined.
“The GDP of PNG is one of the largest, if not the largest in the Pacific, and it’s worthwhile to look into that market.
“Not just PNG, but many Pacific Island markets, even with the telecom operators in there are underserved, which means that if you provide services in there and you provide quality services, consumers will ultimately latch on and use those services.
“What we’ve undertaken in PNG have come out of our learnings in the other Pacific Islands markets we’ve gone into, as I’ve said, Kiribati.”
He said in Kiribati, people were saying they don’t actually see anything more than a voice or 2G service.
“So in fact, the government of Kiribati was saying that why don’t you run a 2G service.
“Thankfully, the management teams in Kiribati and Fiji assessed the situation and said, even if the World Bank were providing funding, we would provide a 3G or 4G data service and that’s turned out to be very successful.”
But look, one of the things we are seeing in many markets as well is the landline voice phones being converted to broadband
– Ivan Fong