ABOUT US

Internet Gateway

In 1996 Pacific Mobile Communications commenced provision of the Internet gateway service in PNG. AT&T Easylink Services was contracted to implement the Internet Gateway for PNG in May 1997 with an initial bandwidth of 256K under the Network name of Tiare providing all the International Internet connectivity between PNG Internet Service Providers and the rest of the world.

PMC is a Gateway Bandwidth wholesaler under "TIARE" brand and leases bandwidth as a product to the Internet Service Providers (ISP) who distribute directly to the customer level. PMC is continuing to look at better ways of providing the service. PMC also offers a 16-line Rotary Dialup Access for its internal customers including Telikom.

PMC owns the domain name tiare.net.pg and is a secondary Domain Name Server for all .pg domain names.  This enables PMC to apply for allocation of Class-C Internet addresses for PNG users from the Asia Pacific Network Information centre (APNIC is the Controlling Authority for IP addresses in the Asia Pacific region).

Growth of PNG Internet traffic has been considerable and in a little over four years, PMC has expanded its International bandwidth from 256 Kbit/s to 6,080 Kbit/s. Internet traffic will continue to grow as more and more people discover and take advantage of the readily available information at their fingertips.  Currently, traffic is carried over four separate routes, two via satellite from Optus and one via submarine cable from REACH (formally Telstra) Australia. This provides diversity so that connectivity is maintained automatically in the event that one link fails.  In order to keep up with the demand, PMC plans a further upgrade via a fourth 2M with Reach before the end of December 2003.

 In October 2000, PMC commissioned a proxy server that proved very successful with the elimination of repetitive data transfer producing 25% improvement in bandwidth efficiency on the international link. In the fourth quarter of 2000, PMC and Telikom negotiated a reduction in access charges from the overseas carrier that was passed onto the Internet Service Providers (ISP) in December 2000. This represented an across the board decrease of 30% in the ISP charges and at the same time a new price model was introduced.

There are currently four ISP’s in PNG and these are Daltron Electronics, Datec (PNG), Global Technologies and Online South Pacific (Data Nets). Click here for ISP links.

Milestones in the growth of PMC