| The
Widest Reach by Far
SLT’s fixed line network has the most extensive reach
by far. For many years it was the only and then subsequently
the main fixed line operator. SLT still continues to dominate
fixed line telephony especially in the more profitable urban
areas. Overall SLT has as much as 88% of the market. At the
end of 2003 its fixed line customer base stood at 822,922.
Our customers come from all walks of life: from the big urban
based corporate to the small entrepreneur and rural farmer.
Few providers globally can boast of such a wide and diverse
customer profile. We will continue to nourish every segment
of this customer base and ensure that they all have access
to the new developments in communications technology. Our
objective has been to ensure that all Sri Lankans whatever
class or segment they hail from have access to a functioning
and effective telephone connection. In this regard we have
spent special attention in developing those areas where access
to telephonic services has been limited.
| For operational reasons SLT is divided
into four regions: |
- Metro which consists of Colombo and its suburbs;
- Region 1 which consists of the Central, Western/North,
North Western and North Central provinces;
- Region 2 which consists of the Uva, Southern, Sabaragamuwa
and Western/South provinces; and
- Region 3 which consists of the Northern and Eastern
provinces.
|
Providing ‘Hope’ and Access to New Areas
One of SLT strategies over the past few years has been to develop
the switching and transmission capacities in difficult areas.
With this in view SLT has embarked on a major infrastructure
development programme in those areas where communications networks
have been underdeveloped or have been damaged.
SLT launched Project ‘Hope’ to improve telecommunication
facilities in the Jaffna peninsula. The Project, Hope, was designed
to install state-of-the-art facilities in that region. For SLT
the development of the facilities in Jaffna has been ‘top
priority’. A similar programme was launched in Mannar.
Project ‘Bridge’ will complement develop telecommunication
infrastructure in the Mannar region.
OPMCs: A third Generation Maintenance
Platform
SLT has been progressively upgrading its maintenance capabilities
since privatisation. An important part of our maintenance strategy
has been the employment of Outside Plant Maintenance Centres
(OPMCs).
| At the end of 2003 SLT's fixed
line customer base stood at 822,922 |
|
Over the past two years 4 centralised OPMCs have been established
in different parts of the country. OPMCs offer a centralised
location and enable a quicker response whether it be a new
service or the repair of an existing service. Because of the
centralised functions - of human resources, materials, transport
facilities - and the use of advanced computer technology OPMCs
have resulted in considerable savings and trimmed the cost
of our maintenance fleet. OPMCs are powered by a computerized
network workflow management system to enable an optimum utilisation
of resources. Extended working hours - from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- has resulted in a better service and greater value to our
customers.
A modern maintenance system requires technical capacity and
the availability to respond speedily and effectively. Both
are indispensable for the modern consumer. By combining skilled
technical resources with stateof- the-art technology in a
central location our OPMC seeks to do just that.
The OPMCs have begun to create a new work culture and as a
result fault clearance rates have continued to improve. In
this area we have a comprehensive maintenance management plan
developed in connection with NTT Communications Corporation
of Japan. This has been boosted by an increased emphasis on
maintenance training of SLT’s technical staff.
| For the second consecutive
year, in 2003, SLT won the Taiki Akimoto 5S Overall
Winner Award. |
|
Coping with the Floods
Severe flooding in the month of May caused extensive damage
in parts of the Western, Sabaragamuwa and Southern provinces.
The SLT network also suffered considerable damage. 52 exchanges
were damaged leaving over 15,000 customers without connections.
Because of the emergency measures that we had in place SLT
was able to respond swiftly and have the systems working in
a matter of days. We were supported by the Armed Forces and
the Police, and by the excellent response we received from
our staff. Most exchanges were functioning within two days
with the aid of our standby generators and facilitated relief
work greatly.
Picking up Prizes for Innovation
For the second consecutive year, in 2003, SLT won the Taiki
Akimoto 5S Overall Winner Award. The Matale Regional Office
brought SLT this coveted award. In addition, we bagged 3 merit
awards (for Polonnaruwa and Badulla Regional Offices and the
Panadura OPMC) and 5 Certificates of Excellence (for the Gampaha,
Ampara and Bandarawela Regional Offices and SLT Training Centre,
Welisara). The Kandy Regional Office brought the Runnerup
award Nagai Yamamoto Kaizen Award 2003.
Growing with Our Network
Over the past six years SLT has considerably strengthened
its domestic and international network.
We will continue to strengthen our network by upgrading exchanges,
outside plant capacity and switches.
SLT spent Rs. 51.25 billion over these past six years on network
expansion. A sum of Rs. 7 billion has been earmarked for network
expansion in 2004.
 SLT’s
fully digital transport network consisted of optical fibre
and microwave links covers most of the country. Optical fibre
rings significantly strengthen the SLT backbone transmission
network and provide a high degree of reliability. SLT plans
to optimise its existing fibre optic infrastructure to provide
high speed and low cost data, media and voice transmission
services. At the end of 2003 SLT’s network consisted
of 500 digital exchanges.
In the remote area and difficult terrains SLT is planning
to deploy cost effective technologies such as wireless local
loop networks in a bid to meet the increasing demand in those
areas.
SLT plans to optimise its existing fibre optic infrastructure
to provide high speed and low cost data, media and voice transmission
services.
SLT’s New Tariff Structure:
Catalysing Growth and staying Competitive
The 5th and final tariff rebalancing exercise specified in
the agreement between NTT and the Government of Sri Lanka
signed in August 1997 was implemented in November 2003. This
rebalancing exercise enabled SLT to make a case for a rational
and operationally feasible tariff structure.
 As
a result of this revision, SLT was able to introduce a more
competitive pricing structure. The pricing structure now in
place is based on a sliding scale: the more units you use
the less you pay per unit. One of the benefits has been to
place domestic telephony on par with any other commodity.
Enterprises that have large volumes of business have a articular
advantage under the new tariff structure.
In addition to the changes in the tariff structure the off
peak times were also changed and the discounted band time
increased by an hour brining it to 9.00 p.m. from 10.00 p.m.
This is expected to give a boost to the usage of Internet.
Growing Our Value Added Services
Over the past few years SLT has
focused on developing new value added services. Our objective
is to offer our existing customers new value added services
and maximum utilisation of resources. Through this we plan
to increase the subscriber base and to generate more revenue.
Among the value added services we have recently developed
are the SLTPlus, SLT CLI and SLT VMS other packaged service
offerings.
A State-of-the-Art Billing
System installed
In 2002 SLT decided that the Billing and Revenue System installed
in 1997 was unable to cope with the growth of the Company
and needed to be replaced. In October that year SLT invested
US$ 20 million to buy a new system which encompasses an integrated
Operation Support System, a Billing Support System and a Mediation
Support System. Its flexible architecture and user friendly
characteristics provide for a converged support system.
The first phase of our new billing system went online in April
2003 for our Internet and data customers. In November the
new billing system was introduced for our metro and other
customers.
Converting to a 10 Digit Number
The Telecommunication Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL)
has taken a decision to initiate ten-digit number conversion.
This conversion will provide all fixed telephones and wirelines
with a geographic identity that would be determined by the
area code.
The new plan will facilitate the introduction of emergency
services and a uniform short code for operators. It will also
standardise the length of all subscriber numbers of every
fixed line telephone.
One of the advantages of this format is that it enables the
system to expand. It will accommodate 10 million customers
in each area and will eliminate the limitations of the existing
system.
In conformity with the TRCSL directive SLT progressively introduced
the ten digit number in all areas under its purview. At the
moment all SLT fixed line numbers have been converted to 10
digit numbers.
Moving Towards a ‘Duration’
Based Charging System
Another major change that will occur in the near future is
the shift from a unit based charging system to a duration
charging based system. The unit based system currently in
operation is complicated and not user friendly. The duration
based system will ensure that consumers are charged only for
the time for which they use the facility. The pricing structure
will be calculated on a per second basis. This will enable
us to offer conveniently comparable and further competitive
pricing structure. |
