Fair share of over $ 1b for Lanka from Millicom International

Sri Lanka will get a fair share this year of the over $ one billion invested globally by Millicom International Cellular S.A, the owning company of Tigo.

Chief Commercial Officer Tigo Erik Van Vulpen said, “I am positive that Sri Lanka will prosper once the internal conflict is over due to the business mindedness of Sri Lankans.

Tigo, the first to enter the Sri Lankan market as Celltel is consumer driven and we will never deceive our customers, said Vulpen. This is the reason we introduced the per second billing so that all customers enjoy a saving. On average customers save 20-30%.

In addition there is a loyalty bonus scheme where all customers are rewarded according to the number of years they have been with Tigo. The mobile tariff paid by Sri Lankan customers is the lowest compared to other countries where we have operations.

He said that the company is focusing on emerging countries as Europe and USA are slowing down. Therefore, Sri Lanka will always play an important role, he said.

The company is planning to install 1,000 sites this year so that customers will receive better signals. In April we installed 40 sites.We are growing fast and we have outperformed the growth of our parent company in terms of connections last year.

Speaking of the brand change, he said that within one year customers have adopted very well.

Vulpen said that Tigo will launch 3G technology at the right time and said that 3G technology was introduced by other operators a little too early. He said the cost of 3G enabled handsets are very high. Therefore, it is still not the right time for us to launch it. When asked whether Tigo will move to CDMA, he said that they will not move into that segment.

Speaking of their market share in the country, he said “when we launched we were the first but since we were slow in moving from Analog to GSM, today we are number two.”

“Millicom International Cellular S.A listed in the NASDAQ is a company that manages to combine high growth with strengthening profitability and cash flow.

The company is present in 16 countries with a combined population of 287 million. In 14 markets they operate under the brand name Tigo practising the values of affordability, accessibility and availability which are important to the customers and the company. Vulpen (41), a Dutch national has lived and worked in Singapore for seven years prior to his appointment in Sri Lanka.

SG