New phone laws to protect consumers’ rights - PM

Uditha Kumarasinghe Irangika Range and Sandasen Marasinghe

KOTTE: Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka yesterday stated in Parliament that the rights of the public will be protected by issuing licences/certificates of ownership of fixed line telephones.

The Prime Minister made this observation in response to a statement made by Chief Opposition Whip Joseph Michael Perera.

Prime Minister Wickramanayaka stated that after amending the licences of fixed line telephone service providers in 2004, permission has been granted for CDMA telephone services.

He also stated the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka was unable to complete the investigation of many complaints as telephones were registered using fake names and addresses.

He stated that a great amount of foreign exchange income is lost by the Government as IDD calls are received by phones with SIMs registered using forge details.

He further stated it is revealed that a considerable percentage of mobile phones are not being used by the original owners.

Though this Act the TRC expects to minimise the use of mobile phones in frauds and corruption.

Wireless CDMA telephone services can be provided only by the fixed line telephone service providers.

Through their licence they cannot provide mobile phones so there is no legal provision to use a CDMA phones as a mobile phone.