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Papua New Guinea Telecommunications Profile

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Telephones - main lines in usetotal subscriptions: 133,593

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 1.87 (2019 est.)
Telephones - mobile cellulartotal subscriptions: 3,401,971

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 47.62 (2019 est.)
Telecommunication systemsgeneral assessment:

telecom services stymied by rugged terrain, high cost of infrastructure, and poverty of citizens; services are minimal with little change in fixed-line tele-density in two decades; progress in mobile platforms with almost 90% coverage on 3G and LTE; GSM available in remote areas; Internet slow and expensive, available to pockets of the population; facilities provide radiotelephone, telegraph, coastal radio, aeronautical radio, and international radio communication services; launch of satellite and landing of submarine cable will improve most services in the region; government supports training to boost digital transformation; Australia attempted to block Chinese investment in cooperative network; importer of broadcasting equipment from China (2021)

(2020)

domestic: access to telephone services is not widely available; fixed-line 2 per 100 and mobile-cellular 48 per 100 person, teledensity has increased (2019)

international: country code - 675; landing points for the Kumul Domestic Submarine Cable System, PNG-LNG, APNG-2, CSCS and the PPC-1 submarine cables to Australia, Guam, PNG and Solomon Islands; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Pacific Ocean) (2019)

note: the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on production and supply chains globally; since 2020, some aspects of the telecom sector have experienced downturn, particularly in mobile device production; many network operators delayed upgrades to infrastructure; progress towards 5G implementation was postponed or slowed in some countries; consumer spending on telecom services and devices was affected by large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes; the crucial nature of telecom services as a tool for work and school from home became evident, and received some support from governments

Broadcast media4 TV stations: 1 commercial station operating since 1987, 1 state-run station launched in 2008, 1 digital free-to-view network launched in 2014, and 1 satellite network Click TV (PNGTV) launched in 2015; the state-run National Broadcasting Corporation operates 3 radio networks with multiple repeaters and about 20 provincial stations; several commercial radio stations with multiple transmission points as well as several community stations; transmissions of several international broadcasters are accessible (2018)
Internet country code.pg
Internet userstotal: 787,764

percent of population: 11.21% (July 2018 est.)
Broadband - fixed subscriptionstotal: 17,000

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: less than 1 (2017 est.)

Source: CIA World Factbook
This page was last updated on September 18, 2021

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