Lankapuvath, Mobitel tie up for SMS news alerts

Ramani Kangaraarachchi

Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel , will provide its 1.8 million subscribers with Sinhala and Tamil SMS news alerts within six months, pioneering another initiative in the country's history of telecommunication.

The collaborative effort between Lankapuvath and Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel was launched at the Mass Media and Information Ministry yesterday.

To register this service, Mobitel customers have to follow two steps. They could download the latest version of "Thibus ME Sinhala Tamil SMS" application from the Mobitel WAP site and type puwath in Sinhala for alerts in Sinhala and seythikal in Tanmil for alerts in Tamil and send to 2233.

They could do it with normal GPRS charges without any additional charges for the application. The fee to subscribe for this facility will be Rs. 100 per month and it could be received anywhere in the world. A website will be launched in the near future so that those who are interested to receive news alerts could subscribe online. This will be further developed after launching 3G network shortly where the subscribers will be able to receive visuals as well.

Chairman Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel, Asoka Weerasinghe de Silva said Mobitel believes that its responsibility is to give this benefit to the maximum number of people.

He said this requirement is fulfilled with the signing of this agreement with Lankapuvath and hoped the combination of the technology and its reliability in gathering and dissemination of news goes a long way in ensuring the success of the service.

Chairman ,Lankapuvath Pradeep Gunawardena said his prime objective after re-structuring Lankapuvath, was to upgrade it to international standards.

He pointed out that this effort to bring the news and information to rural masses in Sinhala and Tamil is a significant victory by the two companies and in the future they would offer the opportunity of watching latest happenings as visuals using GPRS technology enabled mobile phone to the people.

The service is powered by the technology of the Science Land Corporation which had already partnered with Mobitel in launching two other language related services in the Sinhala, Tamil SMS and the translator.