This colloquium was led by Dilani Hirimuthugodage and Indika Siriwardena from the Institute of Policy Studies, Sri Lanka.

Milestones in the telecom regulatory landscape between 1980 and2006:

• Bifurcation of post and telecommunication in 1980
• Corporatization of the incumbent in 1991
• Issued licences for two WLL operators (Suntel and Lanka Bell)
• Partial privatization of the incumbent in 1997
• Incumbent’s monopoly on international telephony ended in 2003
• CDMA licences were issued in 2005
• 1st commercial 3G mobile licence issued in 2006

One of the more significant changes during 2006-07 was the introduction of the tax: a 10% tax on call charges was introduced instead of 2.5% and 50 rupee fixed monthly tax removed.

At present,  Sri Lanka has 4 fixed access telephone operators, 5 cellular mobile operators, 6 data communications (facility – based)  and 19 data communications (non-facility based) and ISPs.

Findings

‘Quality of service’ shows higher scores in fixed, mobile and broadband sectors. Fixed and mobile sector scored above average in market entry and tariff regulation. Results negatively relate to the newly introduced tariff scheme. Interconnection, access to scarce resources and regulations on anti competitive practices scored below average. Across the board broadband has below average scores. USO shows overall lowest scores in fixed, mobile and broadband.

Comparison in findings between 2006 and 2008:

In 2006 survey, all the dimensions in mobile sector scored above average. In 2008, interconnection, market entry and USO recorded low scores in mobile sector when compared to 2006. It shows an improvement in fixed market entry from 2006-2008. There is a significant decrease in USO in both fixed and mobile sectors from 2006-2008.

Market entry:

Fixed sector score increased minimally from 2.74 to 2.75
Mobile sector score decreased form 2006 to 2008
Broadband sector market entry recorded 2.28

Access to scarce resources:

Fixed sector access to resources decreased from 2. 47 to 2.35 in 2008.
Mobile sector score was 2.75 in 2006 and it decreased  to 2.53 in 2008 

Interconnection:

Fixed interconnection score  increased from 2.35 in 2006 to 2.57 in 2008
Mobile sector interconnection dropped from 2.57 to 2.42  in 2008

Tariff regulation:

Tariff regulation score decreased in the fixed sector from 2.72 in 2006 to 2.71 in 2008
Tariff regulation score in mobile sector has also fallen from 2.88 to 2.69 in 2008

A point was raised that it would be good if a statistical test could be done to test differences across scores from 2006 and 2008.

A question was raised as to whether there is active regulation of anti-competitive practices in Sri Lanka. Malathy answered that TRC and competition authority can both regulate such practice, but in actual fact, very little regulation takes place.

USO

Fixed sector score has fallen from 2.49 to 2.0 in 2008
There is a significant decrease in mobile sector from 2.61 to 1.92 in 2008
Broadband score is 1.55

Interestingly, several respondents didn’t know what USO was.

Quality of Service:

Fixed sector, QoS is marked highest at 2.97
Mobile sector score is marked at 2.85
Broadband sector, QoS is marked at 2.27

Chanuka raised a question as to whether these scores refered to Quality of Service or QoS regulation. This wasn’t clearly specified, and Malathy stated that if it refered to only QoS regulation, responses would be likely close to zero.

Rohan raised a point that it would be good to compare 2008 results with 2004, instead of only 2006, so as to identify a trend. Rohan asked whether statistical tests could be done on numbers so small. Harsha stated that this can be done, given we have a sufficient number of respondents.

Mobile penetration is about 40%, compared to a fixed penetration of about 10%.

Interesting commments by respondents:

“TRC has fallen back to the way a traditional government department  A much more dynamic institution is needed with a vision for enhancement of connectivity to the people”
(Category 3)

“It is necessary to increase the quality of service as sometimes, although broadband is purchased, the required capacity is not granted and most often we face many issues”
(Category 2)

“TRC being staffed and controlled by the government can only have narrow vision of the government TRC is “not a powerful, balanced regulator” and seems to “support Dialog and SLTL and neglect the needs of other operators.”
(Category 1)

When data on total internet subscribers was present, Helani raised a question as to how one could count the number of dial-up subscribers given the fact that prepaid card systems exists. However, given the fact that numbers are anyway so small, it might not make that much of a difference.

Given these scores, the following points were identified: as to what needs to be done to improve regulatory environment as a whole:

Improve transparency in licence issues, spectrum allocation etc..
Improve the quality in broadband sector
Improve and expansion of telecom infrastructure across the island
Improve public awareness strategies
Effective utilization of universal service obligation fund

It was suggested that a study should be done on what can be done to improve these scores, given the constraints. It was raised that questionnaires should not be given to respondents, in particular, in category 3 who do not have sufficient knowledge on regulatory issues as this is NOT a consumer perception survey, rather a survey among informed respondents. Helani suggested conducting a smell test based on these responses, to identify respondents who were more informed to identify if there would be a change in scores.

Chanuka commented that he hasn’t got an idea of the overall picture. As a whole, improvement in fixed sector (which is unusual given the fact that in most countries, mobile sector scores higher than the fixed sector). One reason could be that this could be due to the fact that we classify CDMA as fixed, whereas in other countries this might not be done.