Tag Archive for ‘Rohan Samarajeewa’ at LIRNEasia

Tag Archive for 'Rohan Samarajeewa'

Call for Papers: Infrastructure Regulation: What works, Why, and How do we know?
Deadline: 05 December 2008.

Bharti Airtel may be re-drawing plans for Sri Lanka

on February 26, 2008

Indian telecom giant Bharti Airtel, which had announced its entry into the Sri Lankan mobile phone sector with much fanfare last year, is experiencing delays and may well be re-drawing its investment plans for the island country, says a Sri Lankan telecommunication expert.

Rohan Samarajeewa, former head of Sri Lanka’s Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRC), told IANS that while there was no doubt that Bharti Airtel was committed to operating in Sri Lanka, it had altered its timetable and could well be scaling down its original investment plans.

The reasons for the delay in starting the operations were in the realm of speculation, Samarajeewa said. But he did point to a possibility of difficulties in getting frequencies from the TRC, as it is generally recognized…

19 Comments
Tags: 3G, 3G services, Amali Nanayakkara, AOL, Bharti Airtel Lanka Pvt Ltd., cellular telephone, China, Dialog Telekom, Huawei Technologies, India, Kerala, mobile phones, Rohan Samarajeewa, Sri Lanka Indo-Asian News Service, Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka\'s Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, USD.

Effects of telecom tax increases on prices in Sri Lanka discussed

Rohan Samarajiva

on September 11, 2007

Business

Telecom Analysts are of the view that even though government has imposed a 10 percent tax on usage over the existing 15 percent value added tax, the mobile companies are unlikely to increase prices.
“I don’t think that the four major mobile companies in the country will go for a price hike as there is prospective competition with the arrival of Bharti Airtel by the beginning of the next year. Besides, the industry is growing” said former telecom regulator and industry analyst Professor Rohan Samarajeewa.
He further said that this increase in tax might have a negative impact on people’s usage of mobile phones. “If the levy was imposed the way it was planned, the Rs.50 fixed charge, the impact of it on the industry and the…

Comment
Tags: mobile phones, Rohan Samarajeewa, Rs, Sri Lanka.

With Bharti coming telecom competition is getting tougher

Ayesha Zainudeen

on August 27, 2007

We could still do better; But more taxes could kill the industry

The Nation Economist, Sunday 26 August 2007 | See Print version

I have to say that JHU does not know economics. What is the rationale behind taxing the only sector that is growing? The industry is giving government enormous amount of revenue. Twenty percent of every mobile rupee goes to the government. If you squeeze the goose for more eggs the goose will ultimately die. To my knowledge some of the taxes the government is thinking of will really kill the industry. We have got data which say people in the bottom of the pyramid are willing to spend Rs.500 per month on communication. So if the government put another tax these people will be discouraged…

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Tags: 3G, ADSL, Bangladesh, banking, Brazil, Central Bank of Sri Lanka, China, Consumer Finance Service, Delhi, fiber optic, India, Indian Army, Indian military, intelligent network, microwave, microwave networks, Mt Lavinia, MUMBAI, Pakistan, Rohan Samarajeewa, Rs, Russia, Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Telecom, Sunil Miththal, Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka.

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