“Lanka’s call rates cheapest in the world”

Shirajiv SIRIMANE

CEO Lalith de Silva. Picture by Saliya Rupasinghe

Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel, Sri Lanka’s National Mobile Service Provider recently announced the reappointment of Lalith de Silva as the company’s Chief Executive Officer. No stranger to the mobile telecommunications industry in Sri Lanka, De Silva was also Mobitel’s first CEO to assume duty following the acquisition of the company by Sri Lanka Telecom in 2002 and was instrumental in laying the foundation for the company’s rapid technological and market growth.

Having started his engineering career at IBM and now hailed as a global ICT and programme management specialist, De Silva brings with him a vast bank of experience gained as a senior consultant at SLT, a Board Director at SriLankan Airlines and Senior Advisor at Saudi Telecom.

Silva, a former CEO and Board Director of Mobitel was also instrumental in pioneering developments of the company including the introduction of GSM technology in 2004.

What are your plans for the company?

My aim is to make Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel number one.

We are first in many fields but I want to ensure that Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel is the number one in all areas, soon.

I am confident and can comfortably say that I’m supported by a pool of highly talented individuals who believe in our vision to lead Sri Lanka.

As the National mobile telecom service provider there are other responsibilities that are bestowed on us other than merely making profits. So, while ensuring superior stakeholder value we will be focusing on becoming a catalyst for National Development aligning with the President’s vision while committing to narrow the digital divide.”

How would you explain growth prospects in the local mobile industry as opposed to the international?

Sri Lankan mobile call and broadband charges are among the lowest in the world.

The call charges which were at around Rs. 10 or Rs. 12 has today come down to around Rs. 1 and the same scenario is evident in broadband and even internet tariffs here have seen a major nosedive.

Low tariffs in the communication field are one of the main reasons that Sri Lanka today accounts to almost 100% voice penetration in the country.

The internet penetration which was around 1% a few years ago has increased significantly today and internet enabled handsets have helped to increase this margin significantly. And in that context Sri Lanka is on par with the developed world.

Although it seems that the voice market is reaching saturation, there is a lot of room for growth in the data based markets which can be harnessed for the betterment of the society and thereby converting our societies to information and knowledge rich societies eventually.

We as the National Mobile Telecom Service Provider believe that ICT should be Available, Affordable and Accessible for the public at large for the rapid development of this nation and that’s why we keep investing in latest technologies such as HSPA and a trial run with LTE.

Sri Lanka is fortunate to have a proactive Telecom regulator which has been instrumental in keeping the country ahead of neighbouring Asian countries in introduction of new technology.

In issuing 3G licences we were even ahead of India and China.

During the last three years the government has taken some extremely important e-government initiatives facilitating interactions with the people and largely improving departmental functions.

The government also has the firm vision of transforming Sri Lanka into a knowledge hub. With improvements in per capita income, computers are becoming increasingly affordable and Internet access is becoming more pervasive.

All this means a strong demand for broadband connectivity where Sri Lanka still has a long way to go.

We are positioning ourselves as the foremost broadband provider in the country. Already our 3G dongles have earned the recognition of being the fastest, most reliable and the best in area-wise availability.

In the backdrop of low tariffs and severe competition how do you manage profitability?

Due to low tariffs, margins in the local industry have eroded and fierce competition has also contributed to this cause. We have taken measures to compensate this by introducing novel technologies which help to increase our bottom-line through minimizing cost to serve.

Mobitel is also adopting several meaningful practices within the institution to improve the company’s cost structure and one such move is to redesign internal processes and use technological tools as much as possible for better efficiency and effectiveness. We are looking at implementing global best practices with regard to project, programme, portfolio and change management for managing change in business. Minute details are also taken care of, a good example is the initiative to reduce the use of paper and thereby help minimize costs while helping a greener globe. We are looking at a paperless operation.

Country is heading towards rapid development, what are your plans for contribution to this?

At the time I left the country in 2004, none of the economic parameters were found favourable for business and investment. While I am upbeat on the infrastructure developments you see all around Sri Lanka I was truly amazed to note the economic achievements that Sri Lanka has witnessed just after a mere three years of ending a bloody separatist war. This includes maintaining of 8% economic growth, low inflation around 7.5% from over 20% a few years ago, stable exchange rates, lowest unemployment, doubled per capita income compared to values that of 2004, attracting US $ one billion FDIs and building major infrastructure projects including international harbours, airports and the opening of the Southern Expressway. Maintaining 30% of IT literacy too is another major achievement. Normally a country recovering after a war would take at least a decade to get to what Sri Lanka is today.

A decade ago, if one looked at the country, all major projects were either carried out by colonial rulers or by ancient kings. After the independence there was hardly anything other than the Mahaweli Project one could talk about.

In the last six years, five international harbours including two new harbours in Hambantota and Oluvil are being built while three others are being elevated to international standards. The second international airport is being built in Mattala while highways, power sector projects and many other areas are seeing a major transformation. ICT has become a catalyst for all these economic developments and we have committed to contribute our fullest support by providing latest ICT infrastructure and thereby propel our nation forward. [email protected]