Comments

An excellent and very insightful post! The response to the threat posed by Covid-19 is a formidable challenge to all societies and local cultural norms and practices need to be respected. The expected benefit of measures have to be weighed against 'collateral damage'. There should be no doubt that Covid-19 is dangerous, but there are measures we know work (social distancing, hygiene, vaccines) and others that won't work. But whether and how they are implemented locally requires a good understanding and appreciation of the local context. We can learn from others, but rarely can we copy-and-paste a response plan from one setting to the other. We require local knowledge; local voices that need to be heard and have a say. What is so well described here for Covid-19 and the haus krai is of course true for other public health threats. For example, social gatherings have been the source of local malaria outbreaks in PNG. Also here, the question is how can measures to protect people from mosquito bites be implemented in a manner that is locally acceptable, even desirable, and effective?

Hi Amanda and thanks for the response and information. To me, it seems a shame that a parallel network will be developed at great cost rather than thinking of ways of harmonizing transmission networks as a national asset. Especially if donor funds are involved. It has taken Digicel since 2007 to build just over 1000 towers - I believe at around US$850 million - so the new proposal of 1050 towers is certainly significant. https://postcourier.com.pg/mcpherson-300-towers-subsidised-digicel/ Regulated tower sharing sounds like a positive initiative. It will be interesting to see how that works. Thanks again to you and the team for keeping us updated on trends and developments.

Thank you for the query. A public consultation was held by the regulator in 2019 about tower sharing, but this related only to towers constructed with funds from the universal access scheme. It did not address other towers, such as any tower constructed by an individual telecommunication company. The determination was that UAS-funded towers should be accessible to parties as needed and that "charges imposed on access seekers shall reflect the costs incurred by the access provider in providing the service". See here for more details: https://www.nicta.gov.pg/2019/04/cp-0-5/ This week, communication minister Hon. Timothy Masiu MP said that ATH will be operating by the end of this year. He said that they will construct about 1,100 towers. He also mentioned the possibility of regulated tower sharing in the future. For more, see here: https://postcourier.com.pg/png-to-welcome-third-mobile-network-operator/ Thanks again for your contribution to the discussion, Amanda

Good morning. My question is this; Is our mainstream media informing the public on covid19 adequately or confusing the people? Is the information accurate, fair and objective?

Thank you for the article. Following on from Rod's comment, from a casual observation it would seem the costs in carrying the service from where the cable lands to the end consumer, especially in rural locations, will still be significant and reflected in the pricing. With that in mind I wonder if policy makers are giving any thought to sharing the existing internal infrastructure - namely towers - between telcos. Surely that would make a more efficient and cost effective model rather than each telco building their own expensive network of towers - sometimes with public funds from a local member's DSIP. Perhaps DataCo could assume ownership of towers and lease space on them to all telcos and ISPs - including some of the smaller ones beginning to emerge in provinces. Or alternatively, legislation that requires tower owners to do the same - lease space on their towers - in the national interest. Just a thought.

What about for India? We have 1.4B billion people to vaccinate. Better to consider Indian first like USA did and 90% population will be vaccinated till May there.

As individuals, we can also help relieve hunger. Supporting "Share The Meal" from the World Food Programme is within reach of many.

This is the most appropriate opinion and analysis about the current Micronesia movement.  We just need to listen, not tell them.  I have been listening to what Micronesian leaders and people are telling.  Micronesia sub-regionalism started in 1999, when President Nakamura removed “South” from the South Pacific Forum.  I have observed this and keep writing what I heard and watched. https://yashinominews.hatenablog.com/entry/2021/02/25/Micronesia_%281%29_History_of_the_Pacific_-_contribution_by_Prof__Akio_Watanabe_and_myself

I lived and work in Port Moresby in the eighties. I lived alone with two small children in the then unfenced Adcol compound. I travelled extensively for work - almost all provinces except the Sepik, Oro and some of the islands, often with the children in tow. I was never once assaulted, abused or threatened in either Port Moresby or the provinces. I learned that there were some places you did not go at certain times and some things you didn't do, but I recall that time as one of the best periods of my life. I maintain contact with one local family who were my immediate neighbours, and the family of a former student. My children played mostly with local children and I am convinced the younger didn't realise he was a different skin colour to the local children. He spent most of his time in local homes. The older child teamed up with one of the neighbouring boys to sell frozen drinks at the highlands rugby league games. It was a wonderful way for them to grow up and a classic example to support the view that racism is taught and not born. And I personally never felt that they were at any risk as they wandered freely with their friends.

A thought provoking article! It does make me wonder how different the world's political landscape would be had native populations been given the same circumstances as Somaliland.

We also have reason to value education for its non-monetary benefits, eg learning how wonderful nature is (physics, biology), enjoying the rigour and elegance of mathematics, finding out about our psychological biases and how we can best overcome them, figuring out what a just society entails so we can make good collective and personal choices, etc. We should ask Mr Caplan if he actively discouraged his own children from being educated. Just curious to know if he really believes in his own arguments or this is just hypothetical thinking.

That paper is fascinating. Thanks for sharing, Ryan.