At TeknoPolitika, our interviews with experts shaping the emerging field of techno-politics across a broad intellectual and geographical landscape continue. Through these conversations, we aim to look beyond the usual centres of technological debate and examine how different societies, institutions and regions are responding to the political, strategic and social consequences of technological transformation.
Papua New Guinea rarely sits at the centre of global debates on artificial intelligence, digital sovereignty and technological competition. Yet in many respects, it offers a particularly revealing case. Traditional media, social platforms, satellite connectivity, sovereign cloud infrastructure and emerging AI capabilities are developing alongside one of the most linguistically and culturally diverse societies in the world. At the same time, the country is becoming increasingly exposed to the wider technological and geopolitical competition shaping the Pacific.
Christopher Tungi Papiali brings an unusual perspective to these questions. A writer, former university lecturer and media executive, he currently serves as Projects Executive Officer at EMTV, one of Papua New Guinea’s leading television networks, working on partnerships and projects through the office of the chief executive. His background also spans information technology, higher education and public commentary, placing him at the intersection of media transformation, technology and Papua New Guinea’s changing external relationships.
For TeknoPolitika, Papua New Guinea is important precisely because the country brings together questions that are increasingly global: Who controls digital infrastructure? How should smaller and middle-sized states approach foreign technology providers? Can artificial intelligence strengthen local capabilities without weakening cultural and linguistic diversity? And what does technological sovereignty mean for a country navigating between domestic development priorities and growing strategic competition in the Pacific?
We spoke with Christopher Papiali about Papua New Guinea’s changing media environment, the opportunities and risks created by artificial intelligence, the preservation of local knowledge, competition over digital infrastructure, and the choices the country faces as it builds its technological future.
Alp Cenk Arslan, PhD. (ACA): Mr. Papiali, thank you very much for taking the time to speak with TeknoPolitika. It was particularly important for us to hear directly from someone whose experience spans media, higher education, technology and public communication in Papua New Guinea. Your perspective offers a valuable way to understand how these transformations are being experienced from within the country itself.
To begin, you’ve worked across media, higher education, public administration, and communications in Papua New Guinea. From your perspective, what are the most important changes currently shaping PNG’s media and information environment?
Papua New Guinea (PNG) gained independence from Australia in 1975. Previously, it was under imperial powers, namely Great Britain and Germany. After World War II, Australia was tasked with administering the country.
Within the last 51 years, the media and information landscape has changed a lot. Currently, we have both print and digital media operating in Papua New Guinea. There are transitions taking place in the way these media organizations conduct their operations. Of course, there are also new digital online blogs and other social media platforms that report daily or weekly news.
In the first 26 years, Post Courier, an Australian-owned newspaper, was the premier print media company and had a dominant role in print media. At the same time, the government-owned radio station, the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), was established. The establishment of NBC was a transition from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), established during the pre-independence period, to a local radio service by 1 December 1973.
On 11 November 1993, the National newspaper company was established, becoming the second daily newspaper after Post Courier. This is a majority Malaysian-owned newspaper that focuses mostly on the interests of Asians. Over the years, it has continued to compete with Post Courier on news and other propaganda issues.
Meanwhile, the first television company to be established in 1987 was EMTV. This is a nationally owned television company and a subsidiary of Telikom Ltd. Telikom Ltd is a state-owned enterprise (SOE), among nine other SOEs in the country. EMTV provides a free-to-air service to the 10 million people of Papua New Guinea. Its revenue comes mainly from advertising. Since 1987, EMTV has continued to play a dominant role in public information consumption, enabling the government and development partners to make informed decisions on the nation’s development.
In November 2014, TVWAN was established. It is owned and operated by Digicel PNG. This is a commercial television station providing a mixture of local and international entertainment, news and current affairs.
In September 2008, the National Broadcasting Corporation launched its television station, called NBCTV. It was established to complement NBC Radio service.
Under radio, there are five radio stations, including NBC, Kalang Advertising Ltd and PNG FM Ltd. The other two, added to these main three, are faith-based stations: Catholic Radio Network and FM Light.
The media outlets mentioned above play an important role in the television and radio broadcasting landscape in PNG. The print media provide both impartial and biased news at times, often promoting government and shareholder agendas.
For instance, NBC would not want to report or broadcast bad things relating to the national government. Similarly, EMTV does not want to broadcast news and events that contradict Telikom Ltd’s core objectives and visions. Meanwhile, although TVWAN is a private television company, it would be cumbersome for it to report anything very serious about the serving government.
What does this suggest? State ministers and officials sometimes use police to question and intimidate reporters and journalists. On certain occasions, state ministers or even the Prime Minister take news reporters to court on defamation charges.
Over the years, there have never been any serious prosecutions of journalists or reporters leading to imprisonment. This suggests that politicians and government bureaucrats attempt in every possible way to gag the media, especially when corruption matters are reported.
Having said this, we come to the core question of the changing media landscape.
One major change is the transition from traditional media to digital media. We are witnessing a shift from people buying newspapers on the streets and watching television on TV screens to viewing news through websites, social media, and mobile platforms. This is happening on a grander scale as more people purchase mobile phones.
In response to this media trend, EMTV recently launched its digital app, called igOEMTV, which is now available through the Play Store, Apple App Store, Smart TVs, and other platforms.
There is also an increase in citizen journalism. We are witnessing many social media users posting news and uploading photos without any form of control. There is no vetting or checking. These people post anything online, and sometimes the news is real, while almost 80–90% is fake news.
Sometimes, there is a danger here for reporters and journalists who base their reporting on these social media posts and reword or rephrase them for their main news bulletin. For instance, if a social media user posts a natural disaster story from one of the remote islands, inaccessible by roads and where no media reporter is based, that particular social media post, if it becomes viral, can easily be put into the main news bulletin by broadcasting channels such as EMTV.
In this scenario, mobile phone users are becoming the first audience or viewers of news and events. If some news is put on social media at around 10 a.m., mobile phone users see it first, while the print media runs the same story the next day and television runs the same news in its main bulletin at 6 p.m.
Another change is the decline in print circulation. There are no actual reports on the drop in newspaper circulation, but it appears that the growing population is increasingly relying on social media posts. Facebook usage in PNG is increasing exponentially, and I assume that much of the decline is connected to this. More research needs to be done to determine the shift in media access.
In most cases, people are purchasing newspapers to read classified news, vacant job markets, sporting bets, and rugby league news.
We are also seeing people using AI to spread misinformation and political propaganda. It appears that, in the last two years, we have witnessed a growing number of social media users using AI to defame certain political leaders. For instance, a person may use AI to defame the Prime Minister. In response to such growing AI-use trends, the National Government of Papua New Guinea has passed the Cybercrime Code Act 2016, purposely to prosecute such offenders.
At the same time, more locally produced content is needed. There are many cultural practices and everyday life stories that need to be documented and, if possible, produced for television. As increasing amounts of Western-influenced content are broadcast, some of our local stories are not featured prominently. This suggests that more video documentaries on local content must be produced as part of promoting Papua New Guinea’s tourism and everyday lifestyle.
Finally, there is an increase in OTT media. Many people are now watching television and other content through internet-based platforms rather than conventional broadcast schedules. Even now, there is a growing trend whereby advertising is conducted through mobile phone companies. For instance, Vodafone SIM card users are using Vodafone to advertise and market their businesses and products. Some advertisements that were usually placed on television channels such as EMTV have migrated to the Vodafone digital mobile platform.
ACA: Papua New Guinea is one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse societies in the world. How is digitalization changing the way local knowledge, languages, and cultural memory are preserved, or potentially lost?
Papua New Guinea is the only country that is very rich in language and culture. In fact, it is the leading language bank in the world. It has 854 distinct languages spoken by 10 million people. This means these languages carry cultures, making it the top linguistically diverse country in the world.
There is certainly a threat to these languages. Some of the languages are endangered, and if they are not protected and safeguarded, we are at risk of losing some. Many of these threats come from globalization and digital transformations.
The younger generation is increasingly using mobile phones, and with mixed cultural integration, they tend not to maintain a strong grip on their cultural and linguistic values and utterances. In many cases, children born in this generation are unable to speak local vernaculars. They speak Tok Pisin, Papua New Guinea’s lingua franca.
In the Erave Local Level Government area of the Southern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea, a lot of our younger generation are migrating into towns and cities. In that process, as resettlement takes place alongside new forms of socialization, they become unable to speak their local dialects, including Pole and Piame Pi vernaculars.
ACA: As digital infrastructure, social media, and artificial intelligence become more influential, what opportunities and risks do these technologies create for journalism and public communication in Papua New Guinea?
Some of the prevalent opportunities for journalists would be to know a certain number of AI tools that they can use to improve their performance in the workplace. Journalists and reporters are provided with opportunities to access massive amounts of data made available by AI and to construct more relevant and reliable news effectively and conveniently. But I still think that they need to express themselves using their own words and structural framing so that we avoid AI plagiarism.
Obviously, AI assists journalists and reporters with research and data collection, especially if they are doing feature writing and documentaries.
In the public space, AI poses a significant threat through misinformation. And honestly, AI cannot generate sufficient data on Papua New Guinea because 80% of indigenous content—cultures and practices—is not written. That means most of the national content is not available in the literature and, therefore, as it appears, is not available on the internet.
On the positive side, AI assists people in improving workplace performance and doing business. People are writing good letters, proposals, and other materials with the assistance of AI. I see a lot of people using AI to attend meetings, find contact numbers, and do business, particularly in digital content creation and marketing.
ACA: The Pacific is becoming increasingly important in global geopolitical and technological competition. How do you see Papua New Guinea positioning itself amid growing interest from major powers, technology companies, and international partners?
Papua New Guinea, in the past few years, has been seriously addressing these issues. It continues to seek collaboration with relevant partners.
Papua New Guinea’s ICT umbrella is the National Information and Communication Technology Authority (NICTA). The main role of NICTA is to regulate PNG’s telecommunications, broadcasting and radiocommunication sectors. It faces some compelling issues relating to national sovereignty, cybersecurity, digital infrastructure, competition and access to emerging technologies.
With many technology companies entering Papua New Guinea, NICTA launched 5G spectrum last month. This is important for placing PNG in the next generation of mobile technology.
NICTA has also conducted legislative drafting work focused on cybercrime, data governance and data protection. This is in response to international cybercrime obligations, including the UN Convention Against Cybercrime and the Budapest Convention.
We are seeing competition at the geopolitical level, and prominent players in this region include China, Taiwan, France, Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
China and Australia have been heavily involved in PNG’s telecommunications industry. Much of the ICT infrastructure has been built and funded by these two countries.
These countries have worked closely with PNG Dataco, a state-owned enterprise responsible for cabling and data. PNG Dataco Ltd operates more than 7,000 kilometres of fibre-optic network covering 20 provinces. One of its important projects is the Kumul Submarine Cable Network. This is a domestic network designed to connect Papua New Guinea’s major coastal and island centres through approximately 5,457 kilometres of submarine fibre, with connections extending towards Jayapura, Indonesia.
Meanwhile, the Coral Sea Cable System (CS2) connects PNG with Sydney, Australia.
These projects were financed through China’s EXIM Bank and the Australian government.
Although work continues, spearheaded by NICTA and PNG Dataco, PNG is exposed to competition involving 5G and telecommunications infrastructure, satellite and LEO internet, AI, cybersecurity, cloud and data infrastructure, foreign technology investment, digital platforms and other areas.
Papua New Guinea has cleared the way for Starlink to operate in the country. NICTA approved the operator licence for Starlink on 29 April 2026.
Papua New Guinea is mindful that Starlink is different from traditional telecommunications infrastructure. Previously, there was strong resistance from mobile phone service operators and data traffic monopolistic regimes. The argument put forward was for the accessibility of telecommunications services in rural areas.
Starlink is operated by SpaceX, a US company, and its infrastructure is different from a state-owned, domestically controlled fibre network. Therefore, considering this, legitimate policy questions arise, including data sovereignty, cybersecurity, national security, foreign influence, lawful interception and regulatory compliance, competition with Papua New Guinea’s infrastructure, and the relationship between foreign technology companies and Papua New Guinea’s digital sovereignty.
Meanwhile, Telikom Ltd, through its subsidiary Datec Ltd, has established a sovereign AI cloud/data centre called Kumul Infinity. This project was carried out for government and businesses to store data and run AI workloads inside Papua New Guinea rather than relying on overseas cloud platforms. This is critical so that PNG data is subject to Papua New Guinea laws.
The key question remains: As PNG moves from dependence on submarine cables and terrestrial fibre towards a multi-layered digital infrastructure involving PNG Dataco, mobile networks, satellite systems and 5G, who ultimately controls Papua New Guinea’s digital infrastructure and data?
ACA: Looking ahead, what should Papua New Guinea prioritize if it wants to strengthen its technological capacity while making sure that technological development also supports education, local communities, democratic communication, and national interests?
I think it is very important to treat technology as a national productive capability, not simply as an ICT infrastructure program. Papua New Guinea already has a useful policy foundation for digital transformation, including the Digital Transformation Policy, Digital Government Plan, Cybersecurity Policy, and the emerging National Sovereign AI and Digital Transformation Strategy.
I would suggest several priorities. First, Papua New Guinea should build human capacity. University and TVET programs in software engineering, cybersecurity, AI, data science, cloud engineering, networking and electronics should be expanded. National graduate and apprenticeship programs should be created with Telikom Ltd, PNG Dataco, NICTA, Datec Ltd, banks, universities and technology companies.
Experienced PNG professionals overseas should also be brought into structured knowledge-transfer programs, while coding, digital literacy and computational thinking should become part of the school curriculum.
Second, Papua New Guinea should establish sovereign digital infrastructure. Papua New Guinea needs its own compute, data and connectivity ecosystem.
Third, Papua New Guinea should develop its own AI capability. Rather than simply buying AI products from overseas, Papua New Guinea should develop the capability to build, adapt and govern AI.
That means having PNG-language AI, AI trained on appropriate PNG datasets, Tok Pisin and vernacular-language speech recognition, AI for agriculture and fisheries, AI for health, AI for education, AI for government services, and AI for disaster prediction and response.
ACA: Thank you very much, Mr. Papiali, for this rich and candid conversation. Your perspective from within Papua New Guinea’s media and technology landscape has been invaluable for TeknoPolitika. We are grateful for your time and for sharing your experience so openly.
Striking that PNG is building a sovereign AI cloud like Kumul Infinity while licensing Starlink at the same time: two very different answers to the control question, running in parallel. With 854 languages, local hosting may matter less for compliance than for protecting language data that global models will never prioritise. Is there any plan to use that sovereign cloud for language preservation?