Papua New Guinea Communications - 2021

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Telephones - fixed lines

total subscriptions: 133,593

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 1.87 (2019 est.)

Telephones - mobile cellular

total subscriptions: 3,401,971

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 47.62 (2019 est.)

Telecommunication systems

general 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 media

4 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 users

total: 787,764

percent of population: 11.21% (July 2018 est.)

Broadband - fixed subscriptions

total: 17,000

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

NOTE: The information regarding Papua New Guinea on this page is re-published from the 2021 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Papua New Guinea 2021 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Papua New Guinea 2021 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.