Dialog to hit 5m users by end 2008

Ravi LADDUWAHETTY

Sri Lanka’s largest telephone operator Dialog Telekom PLC has planned to reach the magical 5 million-subscriber base before the end of 2008 making one out of every four Sri Lankans being a Dialog mobile subscriber.

“We are now at a slight excess of over 4.5 million subscribers of which 80% are prepaid customers and we have planned this landmark before end 2008 following our aggressive marketing campaigns, technological and coverage expansions and the latest discounted package on Friday night, Dialog Telekom’s Group Chief Marketing Officer (GCMO) Nushad Perera told Daily News Business yesterday.

The number of our base stations has increased to over 1100 at present.

The 1000th base station was launched at Yodhakandiya in the Deep South and we are continuing to expand, he said.

He also refuted fuelling market speculation that the latest discount scheme announced Friday night was to combat the fierce competition which was expected from the imminent arrival of India’s largest operator Bharathi Airtel in the Sri Lankan market, which was the only winning bidder from the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission’s liberalization process.

Responding to a question on market speculation that Bharathi Airtel was to open out in the Sri Lankan market initially with 2000 base stations and free handsets and outgoing free calls for three months, he asserted that the Indian competitor was certainly no threat.

“They cannot be a threat to us as they are not even present in the Sri Lankan market?”

He queried and added that if the discounts were provided to market fears, then the company could have provided the discounts after the arrival of the Indian competitor in the Sri Lankan market.

Meanwhile, Dialog Telekom’s CEO of the Mobile Telephone Division Supun Weerasinghe said that the new discounted scheme was a reward for customer loyalty and not merely to for new customers.

However, he conceded of a possibility of a large new subscriber base due the rate competitiveness.

The discounted scheme effective last Friday was also the first time any telephone operator offered a tariff discount based on the duration of the call.

The discounted scheme was introduced first when it reached the 2.5 million-subscriber base in July 2006 and again on reaching the 4 million in December 2007.

“This is indeed decisive in very depressing market conditions. This is not a short term discount but valid right throughout the tenure of the subscriber’s connection with the network,” he stressed.