Sri Lanka’s four mobile operators on Thursday rejected allegations from new entrant Airtel that the industry was anti-competitive and blocking new players, saying in a joint statement, “we welcome additional competition.”
“As strong believers in competition and the resulting dividends to consumers and market growth, Sri Lanka’s mobile operators welcome additional competition. It is also their aspiration that the industry would remain consistent in its focus on quantifiable and real delivery in the best interest of the consumer,” Dialog, Mobitel, Tigo and Hutch said in a joint statement.
Last week Airtel told reporters that other mobile operators were not providing interconnection to Airtel ‘on the same terms as they practice among themselves’, among other charges. Airtel is India’s biggest mobile operator and has been planning to enter the Sri Lankan market for the past few months.
The joint statement by the four existing operators said ‘distractions in the form of inter-operator aspersions in particular those which are misleading can only serve to disrupt an industry which is a regional leader and can serve to undo the good work carried out by regulators and investors alike rather than enable further growth across and beyond the 50% (per-capita penetration) milestone on which the industry and Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) is focused upon with much anticipation and excitement.’
-Sundaytime
“As strong believers in competition and the resulting dividends to consumers and market growth, Sri Lanka’s mobile operators welcome additional competition. It is also their aspiration that the industry would remain consistent in its focus on quantifiable and real delivery in the best interest of the consumer,” Dialog, Mobitel, Tigo and Hutch said in a joint statement.
Last week Airtel told reporters that other mobile operators were not providing interconnection to Airtel ‘on the same terms as they practice among themselves’, among other charges. Airtel is India’s biggest mobile operator and has been planning to enter the Sri Lankan market for the past few months.
The joint statement by the four existing operators said ‘distractions in the form of inter-operator aspersions in particular those which are misleading can only serve to disrupt an industry which is a regional leader and can serve to undo the good work carried out by regulators and investors alike rather than enable further growth across and beyond the 50% (per-capita penetration) milestone on which the industry and Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) is focused upon with much anticipation and excitement.’
-Sundaytime
