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| Sunday, 24 March 2002 |
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Business |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Increasing
maintenance costs push up Lanka Bell rentals
by INDUNIL THENUWARA The escalation of maintenance costs of the Lanka Bell network has compelled the company to increase its monthly rentals. The company has increased the rental on the Bell Basic package to Rs. 800 from Rs. 320 and the Bell Business package to Rs. 870 from Rs. 390. However, the company said this tariff revision will not affect customers whose usage exceeds Rs. 1000 per month as they will be entitled to a discount of Rs. 480 on their monthly rental. General Manager - Customer Operations of Lanka Bell Sunil Lakshmanasinghe said the rising maintenance costs, which includes cost of equipment and material, labour costs and utility costs, had been affecting the company for more than a year. The devaluation of the rupee had also increased the costs of installation and maintenance. "The increase in the frequency and duration of power cuts has also resulted in increased costs while the number of replacements for batteries and power units at customer premises has tripled during the last six to nine months," he said. "Although we had not revised our tariff rates since August 2000, the cost of doing business has risen during this period due to these reasons and the electricity surcharge. Our revenue margins are very low and we are compelled to increase rentals to give the same high standard of service that our customers are used to," he said. Lanka Bell, however, has not increased its call charges which will enable its customers to make calls at 10 cents per minute for more than 50 per cent of the time. Lakshmanasinghe added that the company would consider lowering these rates if the power cuts cease although they may not go down to the original levels. The telecommunications operator presently commands an eight per cent share of the market. It concentrates on retaining the existing customer base, mainly businesses. "We are willing to set up a base station in Jaffna if peace continues," he said. Meanwhile, in a previous news release, the company said it has signed an agreement with Standard Chartered Bank's 'PayCollect', a delivery and collection service the bank will be providing through a tie-up with the courier company Aramax Airborne Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. Aramax representatives would deliver Lanka Bell's monthly invoices to its customers and collect the payment from them on behalf of the telecom operator. This is just one of the many value added services Lanka Bell will offer its clients, the news release said. |
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