 TELECOMS, INVESTING IN THE FUTURE... |
The history of Sri Lanka’s telecom sector began with the postal service under the British rule almost 180 years ago. Since then, the country has seen remarkable achievements in the postal and telecommunications sector and can prevail itself of having an advanced and well-developed network.
Even if there are about 900 post offices out of the country’s 5,000 without telephone facilities, the Government of Sri Lanka is always aiming at improving its postal and telecommunication industry.
"Our priority is now to attract investments so as to develop telecommunications facilities in the rural areas," says Sri Lanka's Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Hon. Nimal Siripala de Silva.
Sri Lanka’s telecom industry is partly privatized, with 35% of the shares attributed to Japan’s telecom and NTT. This seems to have been a very wise decision from the government. Indeed, significant improvements were made after the privatization process. NTT has given a ‘kidney punch’ to the industry by introducing new technology and new products and thus, contributing to the creation of the partly privatized telecom company known as the Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) - the country’s main telephone services provider.
However, there are two other private fixed operators: Lanka Bell and Suntel that have provided about 200,000 connections.
The two private fixed line operators have been asked to develop the telephone facilities in the rural areas, but the penetration is still not enough. "At present, we are discussing ways to provide more facilities in rural areas and I feel that the government will have to give more incentives to go into the rural areas for prospective investors. We presume that investment in this sector is an investment for the future. We consider it as one of the pioneer areas of infrastructure development. The government is presently negotiating with a Japanese company and is considering giving them certain concessionary rates as well as to the private sector for investment," Hon. De Silva says.
| TELECOMMUNICATION |
The country’s mobile market is one of the most modern in the South Asian region, with the mobile use steadily growing and with a usage of around 400,000. | MTN Dialogue GSM a fully owned subsidiary of Telecom Malaysia has invested about US $90 million and is one of the major mobile operators in the country. It was incorporated in 1994 under the preview of the Board of Investment. The company offers state of the art digital cellular services, Mobile Internet and WAP as well as a WAP Quartile at Dialogue WAP.Com. This has enabled Several local businesses to provide their services via mobile Internet Quartile. (E.g.: Sri Lankan Airlines, Yellow Pages, and Pizza Hut)
The company’s services are empowered with those found in the developed countries, such as interactive mobile services, short messaging like stock market updates and foreign exchange. Moreover, the company has an ISP since last year and has a growing volume of Internet subscribers. The network is also a regional leader in international roaming with 160 roaming partners spread in 80 countries. Telecom Malaysia’s approach to the market has been particularly innovative, and has contributed to a greater efficiency of the telecommunication sector in Sri Lanka.
Another example of successful stories in the telecommunication sector is Lanka Com Services, which resumed operations in 1991 as a subsidiary of Singapore Telecom International. Lanka Com Services that is a pioneer in providing Data Communication and Internet Services in Sri Lanka, and provides International Private Circuits to almost any destination worldwide via satellite links or submarine cables.
Dialog, which has the widest digital coverage, was the first to receive the ISO 9002 in South Asia. The company headed by a Sri Lankan CEO, Dr. Hans Weerasooriya, has 200,000 subscribers and 400 employees. With the further liberalization of the telecommunication sector in the future the company plans to be one of the top telecom operators in Sri-Lanka in the near future.
Lanka Bell, a fixed telephone operator is one of the largest Board Of Investment approved companies. Launched in1996, Lanka Bell is composed of several shareholders, the Transmarco Group - Transasia, based in Indonesia, a Japanese pension fund called ADEC, Asian Development Bank and private individuals, an American, two British and a Sri Lankan.
The company makes use of a wireless local loop technology and its strategic partner is Nortell of Canada. Lanka Bell is in the business of providing telecommunication services using wireless local loop technology, mainly on the voice and data aspects. The company can rely on the collaboration of a well-known strategic partner, Nortell of Canada. According to its Managing Director, Mr. Joey V. Mendoza, 'Lanka Bell has commissioned an installation of V-SAT technology, which is very good in providing telecommunication to be used in rural or remote areas of the country because it is wireless.' This is one of the support programs that the company has undertaken in order to assist the government, because it considers that the introduction of new technology is part of their social responsibility to the country.
Sri Lanka is a growing market; over 300,000 people are waiting to be connected. More than one million Sri Lankans living abroad want to make sure that they are properly connected to their families, so today telephone has become an essential item in every household. "The potential is so high that the investors can definitely get a very good return from their investments. Therefore, we welcome new investment into this sector," says the Minister. |
