UNP urges Govt. to give back part of telecom levy to boost broadband

Wednesday, 14 December 2011 01:46 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

UNP MP Dr. Harsha de Silva yesterday urged the Government to give back part of the telecom levy imposed in the 2012 Budget to operators to enable them to aggressively rollout all important broadband in the country.

Speaking during the debate on the votes on Ministry of Media and Telecommunications, Dr. de Silva said that in Budget 2012, the Government had proposed that the levy on incoming international calls be increased from US$ 7 cents per minute to US$ 9 cents per minute. The UNP MP alleged that this increase could see incoming calls being channelled via grey networks or operators, thereby resulting in the Government losing revenue. Instead, he suggested that the Government should give 50% the increase (i.e one cent of the two cents hike) back to the legal operators, who in turn can plough it back to rollout broadband in the country.

Dr. de Silva was originally instrumental in devising the levy way back in 2002/3 to finance the Vishva Gnana Fund, which was to be used to develop the broadband network in the country. The idea was to eventually phase out the levy in tandem with the progress of the broadband rollout.

Though there had been some revenue sharing in the past, since mid last year the operators haven’t benefitted, which according to Dr. de Silva had caused a setback in the broadband rollout in the country.

“Broadband is critical for the future competitiveness of Sri Lanka and to increasingly make Sri Lankans smart global citizens. Therefore, the Government should share the revenue so that the private sector operators could be supported to carry out the speedier rollout of broadband in the country,” Dr de Silva had suggested during the debate in Parliament yesterday.

Apart from the increase in the rate on incoming international calls, Budget 2012 also proposed the levy on outgoing international calls to be increased from Rs. 2 per minute to Rs. 3 per minute.

President and Finance Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa in presenting the Budget 2012 said Sri Lanka Telecom as well as private companies had undertaken large investments for the development of telecommunication facilities.

“The Telecommunication Regulatory Commission will implement policies and strategies to encourage telecommunication companies to give priority for the development of broadband network facilities. In keeping with development priorities, telecommunication charges on incoming and outgoing calls will be revised suitably,” President Rajapaksa added.