ABOUT
Chief Paul Komboi, OBE, GCL is a nationally respected telecommunications and digital infrastructure leader whose tenure as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of PNG DataCo Limited has helped reshape Papua New Guinea’s digital future. As the inaugural head of PNG DataCo, he has led the development and operationalisation of the National Transmission Network, transforming DataCo into the country’s strategic wholesale digital infrastructure provider and a central enabler of national connectivity, digital sovereignty and economic participation.
Under his leadership, PNG DataCo has expanded and strengthened a nationwide digital backbone of more than 13,000 kilometres of terrestrial and submarine fibre infrastructure, connecting 100% of PNG’s 22 provinces and 52 districts with fibre. This platform includes the Highlands Fibre Network, Kumul Submarine Cable Network, Coral Sea Cable System, cable landing stations, satellite services, data centres and wholesale backhaul platforms that now underpin mobile, internet, enterprise and government connectivity across the country.
Chief Komboi’s leadership has delivered measurable nation-building outcomes: wholesale internet prices have reduced by up to 99%, retail data prices by 96%, and bandwidth sold has grown approximately 170 times—from around 3000 Mbps in 2014 to 509,000 Mbps by December 2025. PNG DataCo’s wholesale model has helped stimulate market competition, supporting the growth of internet service providers from 5 to 39, facilitating stronger mobile competition, and enabling connectivity for 173 schools, health centres and community facilities, including 71 schools.
He is also guiding PNG DataCo’s next-generation agenda through sovereign cloud and AI infrastructure, wholesale GPON fibre-to-the-premises, neutral host towers, LEO satellite partnerships, cybersecurity uplift and resilient network operations. These initiatives include two new sovereign cloud data centres planned for Port Moresby and Lae, GPON rollout targeting tens of thousands of premises, and neutral host tower models designed to extend affordable coverage into regional and remote communities.
A qualified engineer and policy thinker, Chief Komboi holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical and Communications from the PNG University of Technology and a Master of Science in Engineering and Policy Analysis from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. His leadership is defined by a clear national purpose: to make digital infrastructure a foundation for inclusive growth, sovereign capability, better public services and a more connected Papua New Guinea.