Lanka Telecom defends monopoly extension

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 February 1999, 22:32 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Telecom Limited has issued a press release replying to several allegations made against it by M/s SUNTEL Ltd. and justifying the extension of its international monopoly till 2002.

“Sri Lanka Telecom as the dominant operator in the country has been positively contributing to the development of this country. Without concentrating only on profitable metropolitan areas, we have expanded our services to many of the rural areas in the country” said the press release.

“The number of new connections provided during 1998 is a record in the region and placed SLT amongst the top six operators of the world as far as network expansion is concerned” said Sri Lanka Telecom.

“The government has allowed competition only in domestic telephony. International telephony will be open for competition only after the year 2002” said Sri Lanka Telecom.

“The decision to extend the international monopoly from 1999 to 2002 was taken in line with the objectives spelt out in the National Telecommunications Policy statement of the government considering the time required for the tariff rebalancing process and the network roll out requirements, specially to rural areas” the company added.

“Further the profit generated by Sri Lanka Telecom from international operations is utilised to expand the telecommunication services to the unprofitable rural areas,keeping in line with the National Telecommunication Policy and the Universal Service Obligation” it said.

“The magnitude of development needed in rural areas is another factor which prompted the government to extend SLT's international monopoly up to year 2002," the Sri Lanka Telecom concludes in its statement issued today under the caption " Some current issues related to competition by WLL operators".