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| Sunday, 22 February 2004 |
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SLT scraps 200 free call units : 'Caller party pays' regime from March 1 by Hiran H. Senewirtane The government has announced the implementation of the "caller party pays" regime, which was long overdue, with effect from March 1 in view of increasing long-term telecommunication growth in the country. According to this system, the recipient of a mobile phone will need not pay for that, for which he is not responsible, whereas the caller should pay for it.This applies when a call is being made from a fixed phone to a mobile phone. However, the government is keen on implemeting this system to increase the telephone density in the country, said, Chairman Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, Tilak Ranaviraja. He said that an indepth study of this activity was made with the assistance of international consultants from the United Kingdom. However, fixed line operators and mobile operators had fully agreed to implement it. "This system is expected to stimulate the growth of telecommunication voice services, particularly the mobile services in Sri Lanka", said Ranaviraja. Ranavirja citing an example in India, said that with the introduction of this system, the Indian telecommunication sector had recorded a big growth. If there was a marked increase in the cost of telephone charges, it should be thoroughly re-considered to strike a balance on telephone charges. Since there was no public opinion sought on this issue, it should be done before implementing this system, he added. With the introduction of this system, the 200 free call units provided by the Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) at present, would be excluded and instead Rs. 5 per call unit over 200 and upto 3000, would be charged at Rs 10.50 per unit and, above 3000, a unit call would be Rs 10. |
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