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Great blog Dr. Watson, gives people knowledge not only what is experienced in PNG, but also to learn from other nations as a comparable article. Just from my observations, it was predictable that there was going to be delays based on the demography and geography of PNG and the people. Research already estimates that there is more than 80% of people in Rural areas, then there is poor infrastructure (e.g. road transportation) conditions and the incompleteness of the NID Card system which was rolled out. I wonder if adequate discussion between the regulator and the mobile phone companies were made, to minimize the gaps or plan for the delays? Also, this would mean more advertising and marketing campaign budgets would be over the roof. Digicel boasts owning 90% of the market share in PNG, that would probably be true with cues of people lining up to register more than Bemobile and other networks. I would assume Digicel would invest on an online platform registration system, cut back on lines, improve efficiency, reduce costs in advertising and labour cost for the registration process. But then again, the integrity of the self registration based on poor NID cards or the lack of ID from people in the rural areas, which would not be a trust worthy option. However, this seems all too predictable for this to happen, so why hasn't there been an innovative way to register sim cards? My only recommendations, its time Digicel, Bemobile or smart tech companies invest in the people to have a creative space to share ideas and come up with solutions for issues as such. It might be the best investment decision ever made, cause the only way to solve a problem is to hear it from the daily users and it's people.

Thanks for this timely write up Dr Watson. I feel especially for the rural majority who were put under immense pressure to register their sim cards. While the registration in the urban centres were free those in the rural areas had to foot hefty bills ( transport and other service fees etc) just to get their sims registered. We even heard of the working class having to cut short their holidays just to register. While the government argues the measure is for APEC security the reality still remains that security will still remain a threat. You see far more developed countries like France and England still being attacked by terrorists. Most definitely all Sim cards will not be registered, the telco's will be forced to pay a hefty fine, this will also cause a drop in profit for the mobile companies and ultimately affect the tax revenue which the government is heavily reliant on. And I concur with you Dr Watson when you state that some personal information should not be left in the hands of commercial entities. Hopefully the Government can go back to the drawing board on this issue and come up with a more customer safe and friendly way of registration.

Thankyou Amanada for the very informative peace writing on the issue of compulsory registration of sim cards in PNG. I also had this concern when I was registering my sim that ,as an educated and working class citizen I felt fortunate enough to comply with it by showing at least 2 to 3 different sets of ID cards ,, but the the question is how can I contact my semi-literate mother who is living in the village and has no form of identification? Of course she may go to see the village counselor and a church pastor to identify but that will take a while since ,firstly, the pastor councilor will have more villagers running to them around the same time and secondly, writing reference is time consuming.... The PNG government has always been short-sighted and last-minute in doing things- it has a world wide reputation of that. Just because the APEC meeting is around the corner it is trying to impress the rest of the world about registering sim cards to beef up the security issue .... The security issue has always and will always be around in this country despite the registrations of the sim cards... APEC will come and go and after that will the government have better plans to tackle security issues in the country in future international events?? The government must have long-term sustainable goals to tackle security issues in the country that will solve the problem once and for all... Youth and unemployment is the cause... Have long term visions to develop the youth and create more employment opportunities for them...Otherwise they will continue to sell betelnut right in front of the traffic lights in the faces of every foreigner coming into the country including our APEC friends who will be visiting us soon. One more concern is that how safe is the information collected by the communication service providers ? There is a high possibility that criminals may liaise with corrupt officers to release information and launch attacks.

Hi Amanda, Amanda, I agree with some of the concerns you raised in your article about the possible deactivation of mobile phones especially in the rural areas where mobile phones may be the only means of communication for assistance in emergencies. Perhaps a further extension of the deadline (after the April deadline) for SIM registration may be required for the remotest corners of PNG. Congratulations on your article! Kelly Wokam. UPNG

We agree with Stephen that reducing poverty and rebuilding strong relations in our region requires ambitious targets. We believe that after years of cuts to aid, it is time to return to Australia's traditional willingness to help our neighbours. Our campaign shows that Labor party members are ready for an ambitious commitment to rebuild Australian aid.

Hi Amanda, Thank you. This is insightful and timely write up. There are less and less nations where SIM card registration is not compulsory. The threats to data security you raise are however, real and so is the challenge of many people being shut out. The extension to the registration date is testimony to the challenges at hand, yet it still does not look like a good number of the current subscribers will be registered – not even by mid-year. In a country where many already do not have access to communication services it will be a draw back if those who fail to register their SIM for various genuine reasons are shut out. I personally registered two SIMs with two different MNOs. I did not find the process complicated, but it definitely was a time consuming exercise (distance and waiting time wise). There is therefore need for a realistic timeframe and deliberate effort to reach the traditionally marginalised communities. I also think more can be done to publicise the exercise as well as highlighting the benefits of SIM registration at user and societal level.

PNG being a Christian dominated country, people embrace their Christian believes and teaching. Thus, this can be a reason for peoples unwillingness to register. For instance, some believe sim card registration will gradually lead to one world governance and issuing of microchips (666). therefore, it is a need for people to understand the aim and purpose of this policy for it to be effective. In brief, Christian believes and teaching may be an hindrance and there is need for people to understand what the policy is and its aim for them to comply and register. Given the current statistics, respective service providers need to reach out into rural areas and educate people about the policy then register them.

Alcohol and drug can be one of the contributing factors of gender base violence. What is the root cause of GBV? We might conclude with these but we have to look beyond the boundary. The root cause is the imbalance of power between men and women or boys and girls. There are different forms of violence; physical violence, sexual violence, economical violence, psychological/emotional violence, social violence and more. If you as a man or woman can balance the power by giving equal opportunity to each other for anything do and make fair decision which on you both can agree on. I believe there is won't be any forms of violence. Its all depends on your decision and choice you make. I want to appeal to all provincial government to work in partnership with International NGOs and Community base Organisation to address these sensitive issue today. The provincial government need to support the work of the NGOs and roll out the programs to remote settings. From my end, I see that most NGOs are working very hard to reach the unreached places in the country.

Seriously the bulk of the population who live in the rural areas require more time to register otherwise communication in PNG will worsen. In addition, phone companies should take the responsibility of the costs incurred during the registration process and ensure that their subscribers are registered.

Hi John, as you know dealing with the informal economy in its entirety is a difficult proposition. Even the development of a law and policy has been found to be wanting, particularly in terms of engaging the government to make available adequate investment to support the growth of the sector. During the review of the Informal Sector Development & Control Act the Constitutional Law Reform Commission (CLRC) concluded that lack of government ownership was one of the major set-backs in implementing both the law and policy. The Department for Community Development & Religion stated that they were not 'clear' on what role they were to play (until the creation of the Informal Economy Section) in implementing the ‘public Goods & Services’ arm of the strategy. If it was stated it was found to be ambiguous. So the strategy in itself is an attempt to assist in refining the role of the Department towards implementing the National Informal Economy Policy. To this end the role of the Department is to coordinate, facilitate and network with the informal economy participants through their respective associations to design programs and interventions to assist with their development. The Department is to work with key government departments/agencies, private sector, development partners and CSOs to assist in delivering these programs. The Department will take lead in setting up these associations, building the capacity of its leaders and membership and monitoring its progress. The Informal Economy Associations proposed in the strategy have no limitations. In fact, the strategy advocates that associations can be registered based on the type of activity or geography i.e. where the informal economy participants conduct their activities. While it would be in the best interest of the large PNG informal economy that we take a broader outlook, we have to be mindful and realistic of how government support (in terms of funding and training) will be delivered to participants. At present such support is not coordinated and is delivered (by a myriad of partners) on an ad-hoc basis, and the government is unable to report on the progress that has been made against its goals articulated in its policies such as the National Informal Economy Policy and its Medium Term Development Plans. Such progressive report and monitoring is crucial in the event the National Informal Economy Policy is to be reviewed. At an initial stage of the implementation of the strategy, formal markets will be targeted (because they are within government control and regulations and some work have already taken place in the case of the UN Women/NCDC Safe Cities Market Project on registering vendors into associations/financial inclusion, financial literacy training etc) and then gradually the focus will move beyond the markets to incorporate peddlers, mobile traders, street sellers, home based workers, etc. So as you can see the introduction of the strategy is in no way an attempt to defeat the aspiration of the National Informal Economy Policy but it is aimed at complementing the policy because our end goal is the same and that is "to establish the position of the informal economy as the grassroots expression of private enterprise, and to see the informal economy acknowledged as the full and legitimate partner of the formal economy in the economic system of PNG". This entails diversifying the PNG informal economy. In fact this vision is also the vision of the strategy. Nevertheless, we realise to achieve this high level vision the informal economy in PNG needs be 'coordinated and organised', with the government taking an active role. Lacking these we have a messy informal economy that is suffering from negative government and public perception. A very important step towards achieving the vision of the policy and strategy is the creation of the 'Informal Economy Section' with the Ministry of Community Development & Religion. The section is headed by an Assistant Secretary (Program Manager) who has a team of about five officers dealing with various key initiatives such as 'financial inclusion', national audit of informal economic activities, informal sector development & control act and stakeholder engagement. The section will take carriage of the Strategy once it is endorsed by the National Government. When the review of the Informal Sector Development & Control Act got underway we (CIMC and DFCDR) felt that it was important that some provision(s) is made in the new law to connect the strategy. What is proposed (section 17A) is what CLRC has suggested would be the best approach after we consulted them on our proposal. The advice from CLRC is that the law can only propose for a 'committee' to be set-up rather than an association because the latter operates under a separate piece of law called the 'Association Incorporation Act'. Our original intention was for the law to explicitly create provision(s) whereby representatives from peak informal economy associations can become members of the existing committees of the government at the National, Provincial & LLGs such as the District Development Authority, the Provincial Coordination & Monitoring Committee (PCMC) or Joint Provincial Planning & Budget Committee (JPPBC) to directly contribute to the decision making process. Subsequently, we hope that the informal economy can feature prominently in the policy and planning process. This is a long term measure but one that can work if the government through the Department for Community Development & Religion sustains its focus, effort and drive. While the Minister is entrusted with the powers to create this committee, it will only do so per the advice from the Secretary for the Department for Community Development & Religion. Furthermore, the composition of the committee is explicitly stated in the Bill: that there is very little room to appoint 'political cronies' to the committee. Having the Minister involved in the creation of these committee may also be a "blessing in disguise" as it will bring the informal economy agenda into the government spotlight, something that the informal economy really needs. Whilst the strategy advocates for the formation of Informal Economy Associations and the need for government to take ownership; it also realises that the success of these associations depends on its ability to represent the interest of its members without any form of bias. The end goal of the Strategy is making sure that these informal economy associations are able to stand up and raise concerns affecting their membership, which means these organisations are essentially CSOs in nature.

Busa, I see a potential flaw in the way this initiative is set up. The Minister is asked to approve a link mechanism to give voice to informal economy 'vendors'. I'm sure your intention is not to restrict access to this consultative mechanism simply to those selling goods ('vendors') outside the formal sector. What about the emerging (and as yet ill-developed) informal service sector? Hair-dressers, beauticians, car mechanics and other tradespeople, and so on. An important objective of informal economy policy should be to widen the scope and increase the depth of informal economy activities.

Hi Dr Amanda Watson Thank-you for your insight and research in to the SIM card registration in PNG. Unfortunately many of us have registered our SIM card numbers with our ID's taken and some of our personal information which offers some risk if used by some unauthorised agents or organization. The government may have good intentions in legislating the SIM card registration but its true impact is yet to be realized. I hope the government will make the correct decision if the SIM registration exercise does not produce the outcome it was intended for.