Sharing a Common Platform

Another operator, Dhiraagu, has signed a $20 mn joint venture with Sri Lanka Telecom for the 850 km cable which is due to be commissioned in the first quarter of 2007. The cable has a 10 GB capacity, but is expandable to 1 terabit; there is a possibility that it can be connected to the African side, via Maurtius, Ascension Islands, Madagascar and also South Africa.

In Pakistan, Internet usage has tremendously increased throughout the country in the last couple of years, with users reaching a record number of 12 mn people, but broadband tariff is still quite high. Three companies-Multinet, Wateen, and Worldcall are deploying fiber-optic networks throughout the country, that should help broadband growth. In addition to existing SEA-ME-WE-3, two extra undersea cables have been deployed in Pakistan to secure international connectivity. Also, Worldcall is introducing Wimax for wireless broadband.

Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal, though having huge bandwidth demand, have not yet been able to attract any foreign service provider for better international link-ups and this despite the fact that their neighboring country, India, is offering bandwidth connectivity at cheaper rates.

International Roaming
Though international traveling is an expensive proposition for any mobile user, but considering that most international roamers happen to be high-end subscribers, it doesn't really matter. But from SAARC's perspective, it makes a lot of difference, as international travelers to SAARC countries are mostly mid-end.

'We hope to learn from countries like India how to tackle local content issue'
-Suren J Amarasekara, CEO, Mobitel

What do you hope from the common council of SAARC operators?
The obvious thing I hope for is that operators can come together to bring benefits like roaming rates preferential for SAARC countries. Right now roaming in the region is cost prohibitive and to roam within the SAARC region by virtue of this the subscriber has to move towards a pre-paid option.

One solution is to introduce roaming tariff specifically for the region or alternatively the operator must come to terms by offering to each other's customers prepaid service before they arrive. Secondly, on the terminal device front, we are at the mercy of bigger economies and we have to be the recipient of that. As a result the 3G handsets are too expensive as of now. However, with wide 3G deployments, SAARC nations can leverage this to have better bargaining power especially by countries like India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Regarding content sharing, what cooperation do you need to serve your customer base in Sri Lanka?
In Sri Lanka we have a three-language speaking target audience-English, Singhalese and Tamil. The English and Tamil speaking subscriber base is not huge and we can collaborate with Indian content providers for serving content, but we face a huge challenge to address the large user base of local Singhalese, as it is a very unique language. We hope to learn from countries like India in how to tackle the local content issue. We need a common forum where content providers and device manufacturers can come together to address the issue.

What experience would Mobitel like to share with operators in the SAARC region?
What we notice is that much of the investment goes into building blocks and not so much for electronics. It's much to do with towers, electricity supply, etc. So we heavily focus on what others may consider not so important and that is the basic building block. In order to minimize the cost we have taken steps like doing away with shelters and opting for more outdoor equipment, and outdoor battery bank. We have also reduced the cable length by having tower top radio units and fiber between the base stations to enhance coverage. This way we have been able to minimize the cost of infrastructure.

Mobitel also tries to relentlessly focus on customer centric solutions. We are not focused on being the first to market but in being the best to market. To identify the most important service elements that can benefit customers is most crucial to us.

Suren J Amarasekara, CEO, Mobitel says, "Right now it is cost prohibitive to roam within the SAARC region, by virtue of this the subscriber has to move towards a pre-paid option. So efforts have to be made to either have roaming tariffs to match a level that is preferential, or SAARC operators have to offer roaming customers of each other's networks a suitable prepaid service."

SAARC countries have now started looking at huge roaming tariffs on the lines of the proposal from the European Union, which has decided to drop roaming tariffs within Europe. But since regulators and operators have different philosophies and are more focused on their respective regions, the initiative needs to be taken at a completely different platform, may be at a government level.

Shuhei Anan, CEO, Sri Lanka Telecom said, "We feel that SAARC nations must study how their tariff regulation and telecom policies will effect the growth and development of their economies. Roaming charges within the SAARC region will go a long way in benefiting traders and businessman".

At present operators in the SAARC region are charging a fortune for international calling: Rs 60 to Rs 90 per minute, and they are in no mood to cut it. Reason: in an arena where ARPUs are dropping, international roaming is the only area where operators are making quick bucks on 'voice' calls. Recently the European Union announced its intention to drop roaming rates within Europe, which the operators objected to. Mobile operators justified it on the grounds of it being a premium service used by the upper class.

Mark Hanna, CEO Wataniya Telecom said, "We are very keen on getting roaming issues resolved. We wish a common platform to bring all operators in the region closer, and share knowledge. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Operators can discuss how they have successfully lowered tariff and cost and cooperate on common issues like content sharing."