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Saturday, 17 September 2011

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Mobile operators have trust issues

A successful business is something that is built from good intentions and the excellent results of good business owners.

Sierra Global Network (Pvt) Ltd which is a telecommunication services company specializing in A to Z telecommunication and related services makes new waves in the local industry providing unmatched and tailormade products.

Today we feature Sierra Global Network Director and CEO Dr. Arosha Fernando for this week's Tea with CEO column.

Dr. Fernando is recognized as one of the top corporates in his market with his unsurpassable customer service. His well-trained team of employees run the day-to-day jobs themselves, giving him with plenty of time to do what he does best to run the business.

Here are the excerpts of the interview.

Q: How has the Sierra Global Network (Pvt) Ltd overall business performance been so far?

This year is a turning point for us and have decided to expand our businesses into new areas.

Our Board of Directors has decided to provide turnkey solutions for our all clients continually. To be frank, the company had a bit of a difficult time in 2008 and 2009 and the early part of 2010.

There were some bad patches and we were able to come out of it. The company is optimistic of achieving future growth aspirations with the new areas we are planning to tap in the near future.


Sierra Global Director and CEO Dr. Arosha Fernando Picture by Sumanachandra Ariyawansa

Q: How does your company make a mark in the telecommunication industry in Sri Lanka?

Sierra Global Network Private Limited is a telecommunication services company specializing in A to Z telecommunication and related services covering the fields of network planning and site acquisition (inclusive of site search, RND and TND, documentation, all government and related approvals, site owner agreements and commercial power supply), site development (all civil work including supply and construction of towers and shelters), implementation (including installation and commissioning of all types of Switches and BTS sites as well as micro wave links), technical support, network services and other services.

The company will undertake all the civil work of telecommunication towers and maintenance and has a separate division for network planning.

This division will assist the operators and they will determine where the tower should be set up to have maximum benefits and where cover is required.

Starting from network planning, the company embarked on acquiring sites to set up telecommunication towers in Sri Lanka. Accordingly, we will decide the required plots to set up the telecommunication towers which will give a good coverage, and seamless connection to the next towers. The company has a separate division for acquiring sites. Once they acquire the lands, the company will physically build towers on behalf of operators and will undertake all the civil work pertaining to the TC tower construction.

It is the only company in Sri Lanka with in-house expertise to undertake installation and commissioning of any type of telecommunication equipment irrespective of the vendor and the technology.

Q: As the CEO of the company, how do you support future growth aspirations of the company?

I had my higher studies in Australia and worked for Ericsson which is the premier leader in the global telecommunications industry.

I came down to Sri Lanka to undertake this position. As the CEO of the Sierra Global Network, I had to take up this challenge and had to look in to what services could be provided for our telecom operators.

I looked at new business areas and site acquisition is a major area that I have developed by myself, which is something that I was doing in Australia.

Operators do not want to have their own expert team and we will shoulder their problems and give whatever the solutions they need , which is a very cost effective thing for them.

Recently, the company opened its Radio Frequency division. Once the operator sets up the towers, the important ongoing process is the optimization.

They need to see how many clients have been covered by the tower and how many new clients have been joined to take their coverage and other issues.

The RF division was set up with the intention of undertaking all these issues and have employed 100 new people for the RF division to conduct these activities.

Q: What is your comment on the local telecommunication industry in Sri Lanka?

The time has come to combine the overcrowded local telecommunication industry in the coming years with either mergers or acquisitions to generate with profit for the existing companies.

The industry is dominated by five mobile operators and they serve around 18 million to 20 million people.

At the moment Sri Lanka has an excessive number of operators and no one is making much profit and they are losing. Having three mobile operators would be an ideal number and it is vital to further regulate the industry.

The Indian telecommunication industry also had to experience the same scenario like Sri Lanka prior to regulating the market, However after several years they all consolidated. I think Sri Lanka is in that kind of process at the moment and there would be more changes in the local telecommunication industry in the next two years.

In addition, operators have trust issues and don't believe in each other.

We as a leading telecommunication solution provider in the country is committed to play a mediator role by giving them a equivalent service irrespective of their positions in the market. We are making our efforts to bridge this gap among operators.

Q: What are your ongoing projects?

Most of our work is with Airtel, in addition to Hutch Lanka Bell, Suntel, Etisalat and Dialog.

Q: How do you motivate your associates?

I am very happy to see the people motivated and look at their personal development.

Since we are a project based company, majority of the people are technical persons and I am making avenues for them to learn about latest technologies in the global telecommunications industry.

They have been trained locally and internationally on project based management skills.

Rather than their overheads, let outsource for them, we will have one expert team for all operators.

Going one step forward company has plans to set up a single tower where all the operators can share it. That is a kind of concept that I am working towards at the moment.

Earlier having a network is a great thing, it's like a kind of asset.

But nowadays it's the service, differentiation of services will assist the operators to achieve their set targets in the future. The operators might have a better coverage, but that is not the differentiating factor anymore. its about providing the right service, right prices and right coverage at the right time.

Q: When it comes to constructing towers, how does your company catch up with the latest trends in the world?

You need to have the right strategy to keep abreast with the latest technologies in the world. In the future, there might not be a good demand for constructing telecommunication towers.

However, until the operator closes down its operation, its so important to do the maintainace of the tower, so that will be an ongoing business for us. Sierra embarked on telecommunication tower maintainace seeing the opportunities we are having as a business in this sector.

Q: Where do you spend holidays in Sri Lanka?

Nuwara Eliya

Q: What are your hobbies and interests?

Every Sunday I do swimming and I love travelling abroad.

In addition I always try to spend some quality time with my family.

Q: What sort of investment plan does your company have in mind in Sri Lanka?

The company is considering to invest in telecommunication networks particularly in infrastructure as part of it.

As I said earlier, having a single telecommunication tower where all operators can share would be a serious investment the company is looking forward to in the near future. This will bring immense benefits for operators and it will have an environmental impact as well.


[Profile]

Full name- Arosha Fernando

Civil Status- Married, has three children

Sports- Swimming

Educational Qualifications - Dr. Arosha Fernando had his secondary education at Ananda College and successfully completed A/L in 1990 in the Commerce stream. During his time at Ananda College, he has fully involved in extra curricular activities and was the founder President of 'Young Writer's Association' as well as held positions in number of other student associations as an active member. He was the Chief Editor of Vikasitha magazine which was published by Ananda College as its official school magazine for encouraging students in the area of creative writing.

Dr. Arosha has been awarded the degree of Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) by research by the Swinburne University of Melbourne, Australia. This is Dr. Arosha's fifth University Degree where he has already obtained his Bachelors of Business (double major in Marketing and Human Resources Management) degree from Swinburne University of Melbourne, Australia, and further three Masters Degrees from RMIT University of Melbourne, Australia - Master of Business Administration (MBA), Master of Project Management (MPM), and Master of Engineering (major in Telecommunication Engineering).

 

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