Sri Lanka’s mobile telecommunication industry calls for fee reversal

Dec 04, 2017 (LBO) - The mobile telecommunications industry says the new 200,000 rupee levy per month on cellular towers, in the budget 2018 could make operators close towers in unprofitable areas, discouraging internet coverage expansion. The levy  would increase the un-profitability of towers and lead to reduced internet coverage, the industry said issuing a statement. "If the Government persisted with the measure, towers in rural areas could be reduced, eventually slowing down the internet penetration in the country, which is currently at about 38 percent." The full statement follows Mobile Telecommunication Industry View on Proposed Cellular Tower Levy In the wake of this year’s Budget Proposals, to implement a Cellular Tower Levy of Rs.200,000 per month per tower, payable by the mobile operators, we as the mobile telecommunication industry wish to highlight the below points for the information and observation of the public and all our stakeholders in Sri Lanka. For more than two decades Sri Lanka’s mobile industry had been a key contributor to the economy of Sri Lanka delivering 100% population penetration of mobile services at some of the lowest tariffs in the world.

1. Firstly, it is vital to note that three out of the five mobile operators are still loss making. This loss-making situation of smaller operators is furtherdeepened by their attempt to extendmobile services to under populatedrural areas.
2. Over the past 2 decades the Telecom sector has been the major contributor in terms of ‘Realized Foreign Direct Investments’ to Sri Lanka. Implementation of the proposed levy on towers would result in great losses to 3 major international investors, resulting in their possible exit from the market.
3. As stated by the Treasury, nearly 6,750 towers are used by the five mobile operators to support the needs of a population of 20 million. However, each tower can only support the equipment of 2 - 3 operators due to tower loading constraints.
4. All mobile operators under the direction of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL)are alreadyobliged to share towers before any approval is given for a new tower in a designated area. As such,very few new towers have been built over the last few years.
5. The latest mobile internet technologies offering 3G and 4G services,operate on higher frequencies such as 1800/2100MHz. Such technologies willnecessitateeven more towers to cover the population compared to GSM voice on 900MHz. At present, eachof the five mobile operatorsoffer services on 900, 1800 and 2100MHz frequencies. Thus,a radio transmitter for each of these frequencies by each operator has to be installed on these towers. This would have implications on a tower’s loading capabilities, thereby constraining the ability to share a tower.
6. It is also vital to note that each frequency per tower can only support a few thousand mobile subscribers’ usage. Therefore, simple mathematics determines how many towers will be required to support the entire population.
7. A tower is extremely costly to build and operate. It costs more than LKR 10 million to build a tower and LKR 115,000 a month to maintain the tower (Including electricity, security, site rent etc.). As such operators would naturally be extremely conscious in building unnecessary towers. (**The proposed LKR 200,000 tower levy will increase the monthly operational cost from LKR 115,000to LKR 315,000 (An increase of 174%)
8. All operators already have a large number of loss making towers in the rural areas. These losses will be significantly augmented if the proposed levy were to be implemented, making them economically unviable to sustain. As a result, mobile operators will be compelled to decommission a large number of unprofitable towers and reluctantly deprive customers of serviceparticularly in the rural underdeveloped areas.
9. With regard to the environmental and health hazard concerns raised, the mobile industry complies with all local and international environmental and health standards such as World Health Organization (WHO), Central Environment Authority (CEA) and GSMA standards. In addition, telecom operators have installed advanced lightning protection systems in all their towers to protect expensive telecom equipment on site andthe locality against lightening damage.
10. Internet penetration in Sri Lanka currently stands at only 38%. The fastestand most cost effective wayto increase national internet penetration is wirelessly through mobile towers. The proposed Cellular Tower Levy would only decelerate the growth of internet penetration in Sri Lanka by curtailing further investment in 4G and future 5G technologies, therebydeprivinga largenumber of the population’s access to internet services, which is an essential service.