Foreign Affairs Minister Rimbink Pato, Public Enterprise Minister William Duma and Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne at the launch the new satellite facility

Thursday 11 October, 2018 – Port Moresby: The Australian funded O3b satellite infrastructure system built at the Gerehu Earth Station has been commissioned by Public Enterprises and State Investments Minister William Duma, Foreign Affairs Minister Rimbink Pato and his Australian counterpart Senator Marise Payne.

The satellite solution will provide an additional 6Gbps in capacity to the network and represents Australia’s communications support to Papua New Guinea during the APEC leadership programme.

Minister Duma said: “PNG and Australia have a long shared history of close bilateral relations. The delivery of the two new satellite tracking terminals and support infrastructure further reinforces the strength of that relationship.”

Minister Payne also acknowledged the shared ties between the two Governments, labelling the satellite solution as a critical investment by Australia in assisting PNG host the APEC leadership program.

“These infrastructure are timely as they will boost connectivity for the APEC November summit as well as supporting the long term development aspirations towards PNG’s ICT sector which include the Coral Sea Cable System connecting Port Moresby and Solomon Island to Sydney,” she said.

Kumul Consolidated Holdings’ Chief Operating Officer Gary Seddon says 03b’s medium orbit satellite system is appropriate to reach the topographically challenging parts of PNG, immediately delivering reliable broadband communication capacity.

Seddon said, “It is a system that will certainly contribute towards government’s desire to connect our people – cheap, reliable, accessible communication services at a level similar to most developed countries, will be fully achieved once appropriate submarine fibre optic cable capacity has been implemented. We look forward to enjoying these services once the new domestic and international communications infrastructure is complete.”

This O3b satellite project represents the combined efforts of a communication collaboration programme between Kumul Telikom Holdings, through their agency PNG DataCo and the governments of Papua New Guinea and Australia.