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Tritel Services (Pvt) Ltd., the largest payphone network operator in Sri Lanka, has given HSBC a special offer by making the unique Tritel telephone card available to the Bank's 100,000 credit card base in Sri Lanka. Credit card customers of the local global banking giant can look forward to the offer of a bonus of Rs. 200 call minutes on first time activation for charges above Rs. 500 and a bonus offer of Rs. 300 call minutes on first time activation for charges above Rs. 1,000 in addition to the specified amount and a three per cent discount on telephone calls made on 1 January (New Year's Day) and 14 February (Valentine's Day).

Unlike traditional phone cards, the new card has indefinite validity as it is activated and recharged through the owner's HSBC credit card, as per the cardholder's requirements, the telephone company said.

Branded 'Universal Card', this innovative new service offers International Direct Dialling (IDD) and can be used to make calls from any phone-fixed line, wireless loop, mobile or payphone.

Robert Schuster, Chief executive Officer of Tritel said: "We are pleased to offer our phone card to HSBC's credit card holders since HSBC is the market leader in this field".

He said that with diversification into other value added services and leadership in the payphone sector, Tritel is well positioned in Sri Lanka's telecommunications industry. "We have invested about US $ 14 million (Rs. 1.3 Billion) in Sri Lanka's telecommunications infrastructure and have installed over 3,000 payphones covering almost 80 percent of major towns and suburbs nation-wide", Schuster said.

Describing the 'Universal Card' he said it gives users more control over the cost of IDD calls, as it is the card users who specify the value the card should hold. "This facility is also more convenient as card users can make calls from any phone regardless of the network operator and whether or not it has IDD facilities", he said.

The Universal Card requires the card user to call into Tritel and activate the card by specifying the amount the card should hold.

The card is instantly activated once authorisation is given. Confirmation of the amount credited to the card is sent to the user via email, regular mail, or fax. Once the initial amount is used up the cardholder may recharge the card by simply calling up and going through the initial process.

All software for this product was developed in-house with local expertise as with all the other products of Tritel.

Tritel Services (Pvt) Ltd., which commenced operations in July 1997 is backed by Sri Indrajaya Sdn Bhd, a Malaysian company that has diverse and extensive interests in telecommunications and power projects in the South Asian region. Tritel is the first operator in the country to have payphones with dual (card and coin) payment facilities.

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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