The source quoted by LBO below appears to have been quite familiar with the ORIGINAL shareholders agreement signed between the Government of Sri Lanka and NTT in 1997, but appears to have been comatose since then. Provisions regarding no universal service obligations (USO) and international exclusivities were in that agreement and did bind the Government of Sri Lanka. The no-USO provision continues to date, though the international exclusivity ended with the issuance of external gateway licenses in March 2003.

Why LBO’s anonymous source is claiming that provisions that were in force since 1997 are newly being imposed in 2007 is a mystery. And how the humpty dumpty of SLTL’s ambiguous international exclusivity can be put back again, the Rip van Winkle interviewed by LBO does not tell us.

If the Colombo Stock Exchange applies its rules without exception this kind of confusion can be avoided. Why does it not? Should the SEC get involved?

LANKA BUSINESS ONLINE – LBO

Sources familiar with the deal’s provisions claimed it could also undermine telecom regulation in the future because it prevents a universal service obligation being imposed on SLT and has provisions to protect its dominance in international telephone services.

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Then came SEA-ME-WE 4 and the BSNL cables. More cables, but still one operator, SLTL. Now finally, we have operator redundancy. This should be sweet music to the BPO industry.

LANKA BUSINESS ONLINE – LBO

Lanka Bell, one of Sri Lanka’s privately held wireless telecom operators, has tied up with India’s FLAG Telecom to lay an undersea cable linking both countries.The 27 million dollar deal will see a third landing on the cable that currently runs from India to the Maldives, Lanka Bell’s Director, Damien Fernando said.