Tea with SLT CEO Greg Young

SLT delivers cost effective solutions

Harshani PERERA

[ Profile]

Name: Greg Young

Professional qualifications: Bachelor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Experience: 26 years experience in the telecommunication industry

Civil status : Married, has three children

The overall penetration of telecommunication services in Sri Lanka has achieved a population penetration of around 90 percent comprising fixed and mobile services from all operators and service providers active in the market, Sri Lanka Telecom CEO Greg Young told the Daily News Business. Excerpts of the interview.

Q: How do you compare telecommunication services penetration in rural areas compared to other countries?

A: Fixed line penetration in Sri Lanka is now over 60 percent of the households through a combination of wired and wireless service, while mobile penetration is around 75 percent.

SLT provides fixed services across most parts of the island through a combination of its Megaline and Citylink service.

Through the use of wireless CDMA technology we can deliver fixed services to many rural areas of the country and thereby deliver increased fixed line market penetration. In the Asian region Sri Lanka has already achieved a ranking among the top ten countries based on the overall telephone penetration as well as the fixed line telephone penetration.

Along with the increase in fixed lines, broadband services too have increased as the country is embracing the increasing benefits and availability of ICT services.

To complement the penetration of fixed line voice service in the rural areas, SLT is also introducing the WiMax broadband service.

A further example of our delivery of cost effective solutions to serve both rural and urban areas.

Q: What are the new technologies that can be introduced to the telecommunication field?

A: In addition to increasing the availability of broadband in rural areas through WiMax technology, we are experiencing unprecedented demand for our broadband fixed line service delivered using the ADSL technology, in addition to strong growth and demand for mobile broadband, which underscores the range of solutions that can be provided by the SLT Group.

In addition, the acceleration of the deployment of SLT next generation network enables us to deliver voice and broadband services using a common network. This will further deliver improved quality and reliability of these services while improving the efficiency and -cost of providing these services.

SLT is in the process of connecting urban area buildings with Optical Fibre connectivity instead of copper cabling, which delivers increased bandwidth and capacity for data and internet services to cater to increasing business customer needs.

SLT has introduced IPTV technology and many related interactive services for our broadband customers.

Q: How aggressive is SLT in the Northern and Eastern areas?

A: Even during the times of conflict, SLT continued to deploy its services islandwide including the Northern and Eastern provinces.

The end of the war has opened new opportunities for SLT to cater to the 2.7 million population in North and East areas and aggressively bring improved telecommunication products and services to customers in these areas.

Within a very short period, we have increased the availability of ICT solutions to serve the North and East areas. SLT already provides more than 50,000 fixed and 80,000 CDMA connections and serves around 3,500 broadband customers in these areas.

SLT invested more than Rs 750 million to upgrade its communication infrastructure by setting up optical fibre infrastructure as a core network and increasing the availability of the Copper and fibre access network and installation of new CDMA base stations in these areas. Plans are under way to enhance telecommunication facilities to support new industries and investment zones. We consider these areas have huge potential when it comes to the communication needs of the people after the end of the war.

Q: How do you see the market in those areas?

A: There is a huge potential and strong demand from these areas as the commercial and business needs are increasing.

Q: What was the growth of the company for last year?

A: Despite the challenging year, Sri Lanka Telecom has successfully performed during the last year with growth in many areas.

Aggressive expansions and refurbishments were carried out with regard to infrastructure, networks and technology.

ADSL and CDMA networks were expanded to support our sales targets. The ISP network was also expanded to provide reliable, high performance Internet connectivity. In terms of revenue, broadband, data and other services have grown by 18 percent when compared to the year 2008.

The broadband customer base has grown to over 182,000 by the end of June 2010, which accounts for a market share of over 70 percent.

Q: What are the strategies taken by SLT to improve the quality of services?

A: SLT has introduced Total Quality Management System (TQMS) and business process re-engineering activities to serve customers in terms of better products and services.

We have successfully implemented the fundamentals and complementing features of ISO into our systems and processes. ISO 9001: 2008 has been implemented in various sections including the Call Centre, Administration Group, several OPMCs, RTOs and Teleshops.

Q: How should the telecommunication industry overcome present challenges?

A: There is a large number of telecommunication operators who have been engaged in an aggressive price discounting over the past period. . This has impacted individual company profitability and the overall health of the sector, and whilst this is good for the customers in the short-term, in the long run it will not be healthy for the industry and will constrain innovation and investment that are needed to support the objectives of increased ICT literacy and GDP growth.

The telecommunication industry directly and indirectly contributes significantly to the revenues of the Government through a range of taxes and levies.

Q: What are your future plans?

A: We plan to improve our focus on customers and delivery of new and innovative services at very competitive price points. We continue to transform our company and culture to ensure that we are market centric and put the customer at the heart of everything we do.

In addition to expansion and delivery of new services to our customers, SLT is focused on developing our wholesale services and capacity to serve other telecommunication operators. The industry needs to avoid unnecessary duplication of investments by operators which will not be healthy for the industry.

Through the delivery of voice, broadband, information and content services all via a modern and efficient single network, we plan to support the government ICT initiatives and GDP growth as we provide services to all Sri Lankan customers.

Q: What is the country you would like to visit overseas?

A: Any country in the South American region

Q: What is the place you wish to visit in Sri Lanka?

A: I have yet to visit Jaffna and Yala and am looking forward to seeing more parts of this wonderful country over the coming months.

Q: What is your advice to young people eager to climb the corporate ladder?

A: My advice to young people is to work hard to achieve one's objectives and to always look for new opportunities but be flexible in gaining the diverse knowledge and experience that is necessary to demonstrate capabilities worthy of leadership and management that is necessary to support promotion to higher levels in any company.

Q: How do you spend your leisure?

A: I enjoy sailing and watersports and enjoy tinkering with electronic equipment including home theatre and computers.