From The National. Tuesday 31st October 2006

Telikom okays broadband access for research, varsities
TELIKOM PNG has agreed to allow the higher education and research sector to gain broadband internet access after a successful meeting in Madang last Saturday.
The meeting involved Telikom PNG and the PNG vice-chancellors’ committee.
The two parties agreed at the meeting at the Divine Word University in Madang that universities and higher education and research institutions needed increased access to telecommunication services, particularly internet and other data forms.
The meeting followed recent debate in the media over the issue with the VCC calling for improved access to the Internet for educational and research purposes.
The vice-chancellors were concerned over the rigid monopolistic control by Telikom over the information superhighway, despite strides being made around the region to increase access to telecommunication services provided to universities and research institutions.
The meeting was attended by chief executive officer of Telikom David Waterhouse, the company’s sales manager Kevin Malai and its Madang district manager Mike Yandit and the VCC was represented by its chairman, Fr Jan Czuba, who is also the president of DWU.
Both parties agreed that internet and scholarly exchange with overseas and national institutions of higher education was essential for the continued development of scholarship in Papua New Guinea.
The parties also agreed that telecommunications contributed to capacity-building, not only for the higher education institutions, but importantly for the whole nation.
They also noted that the universities were non-profit institutions.
It was agreed that Telikom PNG provide increased bandwidth to the universities, whether these institutions are in Port Moresby or other regional centres.

Now, this is the news we have all been waiting for..

True!