On Starlink and Papua New Guinea’s innovative spirit
The issuing of an operator licence to Starlink has generated headlines, but it is far from the only LEO connectivity provider in Papua New Guinea. Meanwhile, the shortlists for the 2026 Innovation PNG Awards have been revealed – and they include exciting small and medium businesses from around the country.
Mackhenly Kaiok (Chief of Staff, Kina Bank), James Inglis (Chief Executive Officer, NiuPay), Winifred Kula (co-founder and President for the PNG Digital ICT Cluster) and Bernadette Caleb (cybersecurity expert) at an event in Port Moresby on 6 May, where the shortlists for the 2026 Innovation PNG Awards were announced.
The case between Papua New Guinea’s Ombudsman Commission and telecommunications regulator NICTA has finally been resolved by PNG’s National Court. As a result, NICTA issued an operator licence to Elon Musk’s Starlink on 29 April to deliver its Low Earth Orbit (LEO) internet service in PNG.
This will be of particular relief to the estimated 1,800 early adopters who had their Starlink service summarily terminated by NICTA before Christmas while the court case was resolved.
At the time, NICTA’s Chairman Brian Riches pointed out the need for due process to be followed and, while the entire matter has undoubtedly taken longer than many would wish, it does appear that has happened.
While Starlink is the world’s largest LEO connectivity provider, it is not the only show in town. Indeed, its competitor OneWeb has also been licensed for use in PNG while retail and tech giant Amazon plans to launch a rival service this year.
We’ll be publishing more on this shortly. Hopefully, with the regulatory steps now complete, PNG businesses can now move to make the most of these services.
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The announcement of the winners of the 2026 Innovation PNG Awards, an initiative of the Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce and Industry (POMCCI) and Business Advantage International, will take place on 3 June.
This is the fourth time the awards have been held and the shortlisted entrants in the Small Business, Corporate Innovation and Young Innovator categories were announced at a special “TechBrek” event last week in Port Moresby.
This week, we profile the six shortlisted SMEs, which come from three different provinces and the National Capital District.
The awards announcement on 3 June will feature a special address by one of the region’s most entertaining and thought-provoking futurists, Peter Williams of Deloitte’s Centre for the Edge, who helped establish the awards back in 2019.
You can buy tickets to attend the event by contacting POMCCI directly, either by email at frontdesk@pomcci.com or by phone on +675 7200 0000.
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As our regular readers know, most of the stories we publish draw heavily on direct first-person sources, including the dozens of interviews we conduct each year with PNG-based executives.
In some cases, our interviewees have kindly agreed to be recorded on video and you will increasingly see these videos incorporated into the content on this site and on our social media accounts.
We’ve also launched a new “PNG Boardroom” playlist on our official Youtube channel, where we are presenting the most notable recent video interviews with PNG’s business leaders. The channel is free to access so please have a look.
