The National Information and Communications Technology Authority (NICTA) has decided in accordance with Section 127 of the National Information and Communications Technology Act 2009 (the Act) to conduct a public inquiry under Section 230 of the Act into whether recommendations should be made to the Minister to declare certain wholesale services. A wholesale service determination is a regulation that is made by the Minister, based on a recommendation from NICTA, which can specify the terms of access to the service by licensed operators and also to impose a non-discrimination obligation on the provider of that declared service.
The terms of reference of the inquiry require NICTA to:
- analyse the extent of competition in domestic telecommunications markets with a particular focus on the geographical areas outside the provincial capitals where practicable and appropriate; and
- form a view as to whether or not those markets are effectively competitive; and, if any is not,
- consider whether the declaration by the Minister of any particular wholesale service or services in that market would satisfy the declaration criteria specified in section 128 of the Act; and
- determine whether or not NICTA should recommend to the Minister that one or more wholesale services in that market be declared under section 130 of the Act; and, if such a recommendation should be made, and
- specify the recommended terms of the declaration(s) and the recommended expiry date(s) for any such declaration(s).
A discussion paper for the purposes of Section 232 of the Act will be available on NICTA’s website (www.nicta.gov.pg) from Tuesday 29th May 2018. The paper considers a range of telecommunications wholesale services. The public inquiry shall commence from that date and end on 29th June 2018. Up to date information on the inquiry shall be available from NICTA’s website.
This notice fulfills the requirements of Section 231 of the Act.
Signed Notice: Public Inquiry Notice - Issued 28 May 2018
Potential Declaration of Certain Wholesale Telecommunications Services - Issued 28th May 2018