Category: Technology

A fresh set of rules to govern telecom firm mergers is being floated within the industry for comment by August 6.The draft outlines how the telecom watchdog should respond to merger situation and how the merged operators should behave.rn rnInformation and infrastructure sharing, cross subsidisation and other practices that give the firs and unfair advantage […]

Sri Lanka will play host to the first annual IT knowledge dissemination conference endash Networking South Asia later in July.Chairman of the Organising Committee, Dr.Gihan Dias says the conference aims to build links with regional Internet and allied service providers and to push through the latest thinking in the industry. rn rnIndustry sources say the […]

A draft spectrum management report recommends auctioning as the basis for allocating slots in the 1800 and 1900 MHz frequency band.Justifying its recommendations, the report say auctioning frequency slots would obtain competitive market rats for the scarce resource opposed to fixed rates last revised in 1996.rn rnThe telecom watchdog already cleared four slots in the […]

The telecom watchdog has given the go ahead to licensed international voice and data operators to access the SEA-MEendash WE 3 submarine cable.Only Sri Lanka Telecom had access and control of the cable, which provides high bandwidth connectivity, as they were the only operator at the time to invest in a landing station.rn rnTelecommunication Regulatory […]

The telecom watchdog on Wednesday published a set of rules that will govern the short code auction scheduled for an August date. The online auction previously set for mid May was abandoned due to the lack of interconnection between operators.rn rnHowever, policy makers are due to meet next week to resolve the remaining issues holding […]

Continued lobbying from the telecom industry has now opened up access to undersea cable bandwidth. Direct access to the SEA ME WE (Cable connecting South East Asia, the Middle East and Western Europe) submarine cable facility will cut bandwidth cost by an estimated 50% for telecom operators, say industry sources.rn rnAccess to capacity in the […]

Offering greater value to its tenants, the World Trade Centre (WTC) in Fort together with Dialog, has put in a fibre optic internet backbone in the twin towers.rnrnThe fibre optic backbone put in place at a cost of US$ 650,000, spans to the length of both towers, providing WTCs tenants with ldblquote on tap dblquote […]

Draft legislature to set up the super regulator for the information and communication sectors is now up for discussion.The bill will help form the Information and Communication Commission or Sri Lanka (ICCSL) and will be the present telecom regulators successor.rn rnAdding more muscle to the new Commission a fresh set of legislature covering electronic broadcasting […]

Sri Lanka Telecoms rating outlook was revised to negative by Fitch Ratings, as liberalization poses many uncertainties for the telecom giant. Fitch says future debt obligations, falling revenues and capital expectative on network expansion could strain its cash flows.rn rnHowever, Fitch affirmed SLTs SL AA+ rating for its listed unsecured redeemable debenture maturing in 2005. […]

Telecom operator Suntel, says its profits soared to Rs. 200.4 mn in 2002, from Rs. 22.8 mn.Suntel benefited from the prevalent low interest rates, while value added services and a tariff increase pushed revenues up by Rs.400 mn.rn rnRevenues rose to Rs. 3.58 bn from Rs. 3.156 bn in 2001. Cost of sales was up […]

Telco firms on Thursday agreed on a set of termination charges, setting the stage to launch a caller party pays (CPP) regime by September. However, Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) has said it would agree to CPP on condition that the regulator resolves a number of its concerns including approval of its long over due tariff […]

Telco firms have till the weekend to give a final verdict on termination rates proposed in a new cost based study. Industry giant Sri Lanka Telecom was absent at the Tuesday morning meeting, where the regulator met with the industry to discuss the rates.rn rnThe study also will set the base for the industrys move […]