More payphones for rural areas

Indunil Hewage

The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) has allocated Rs 45 million to provide payphone facilities in rural areas for 2010.

Under the scheme each payphone installed by licensed operators or resellers in identified rural areas will be paid a Rs 50,000 subsidy according to an agreement signed between the Commission and operators.

This was revealed by the TRCSL at the eighth annual Commonwealth Telecommunication Organization (CTO) Forum which was held in Colombo recently.

TRCSL is in the process of developing telecommunication sector infrastructure in the Northern and Eastern provinces while facilitating service providers.

The proposed telecommunication towers of all service providers in the Northern and Eastern Provinces include Ampara 262, Mullaitivu 3, Mannar 34, Vavuniya 31, Batticaloa 171, Trincomalee 144, Jaffna 139 and Kilinochchi 13.

The TRCSL also engaged in setting up new common towers at Kokavil in the Mullaitivu district and Malayaparithikulam in the Vavuniya district to assist broadcasting operators as well as mobile operations in the area.

The Commission also stated that policy and guidelines for antenna structures have also been finalized. Action is being taken to announce it as a national policy shortly.

TRCSL has identified the importance of deploying a Optical Fibre National Backbone Network development project to reach cost effective and reliable broadband networks to interconnect the country. At TRCSL’s request, a consultancy has also been commissioned by World Bank to study the feasibility of deploying an optical fibre National Backbone Network by using the infrastructure of Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), Sri Lanka Railway and other utility providers.

This is considered as an important step in achieving cost effective and reliable broadband networks while facilitating future Next Generation Network (NGN) development.

TRCSL intends to establish a multi-stakeholder dialogue with the participation of all related parties to implement the project proposals for the backbone infrastructure with the help of results of this feasibility study.