Sunday May 19, 2024
Sunday May 19, 2024
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Serious indictment by Public Security Minister Tiran Alles and Department of Immigration and Emigration (DIE) on Monday has put the onus on SLT-Mobitel to come clean over the processing of Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) upto 17 April this year.
Without naming SLT-Mobitel, Minister Alles told the media that the previous ETA system had limitations and was unable to process essential documents and photographs, despite being given four years to upgrade.
“If you are a company developing a platform, a local economic crisis must not be a problem,” Minister Alles said in response to a question from the media as to why the local firm which provided the ETA system previously was not given a chance to improve the system.
By the start of this year, 17 visa categories were in operation leading to a large number of documents for processing.
SLT-Mobitel has been the technology solutions provider for DIE since 2012 and Sri Lanka was considered perhaps the first in Asia to launch an ETA even before countries such as Singapore.
DIE Controller General I.S.H.J. Ilukpitiya in a statement was more emphatic (https://www.ft.lk/opinion/Dept-of-Immigration-and-Emigration-Chief-makes-public-rationale-for-working-with-VFS-Global/14-761492). He said the SLT-Mobitel solutions had the Inability to obtain applicant’s photographs, photocopies of passports, other certificates and documents to the system online (these documents are essential for security verification).
Other drawbacks included: Inefficient service due to use of an outdated technology; absence of technology required to carry out modernisations of the system; absence of technical support required to restore quickly the failures in the system at various occasions; inconvenience caused for non-English speaking foreign tourists due to unavailability of multi-language calling facility (being a hindrance for tourism development); Poor service compared to the other international services which provide visa and visa-related services; and Inability to use this as a strategy as in the other countries, due to lack of publicity to promote the tourism industry by reason of less number of users as it is a methodology which operates only in Sri Lanka.
This exhaustive list of complaints was after the Cabinet in July 2021 had decided to award a contract to SLT-Mobitel to revamp the solutions. SLT-Mobitel invested for a hardware upgrade and was ready to roll out after the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent political cum economic crises delayed the implementation. However SLT-Mobitel was abruptly told to switch off its solutions prior to the new outsourced party implementing the new system on 17 April.
Analysts said that a public listed company as well as majority State-owned entity SLT-Mobitel must set the record straight over the allegations made by Minister Alles and DIE. “They (Minister and DIE Controller have undermined the competence of SLT-Mobitel technology and employees. The Independent Directors have a fiduciary duty to make proper and relevant disclosure or call for explanation from the management. The Company was also deprived of the right to fair hearing,” industry analysts opined.
SLT-Mobitel was providing the technology solution for DIE free of charge as a national service and also in compliance with national security and data protection guidelines.
Though a fee of $ 1 per ETA had been proposed by SLT-Mobitel for solutions given to DIE, the company hadn’t been paid.
However, both Minister Alles and DIE Controller on Monday claimed that SLT-Mobitel was paid Rs. 1.2 to Rs. 1.6 million per month. The Government covered the expenses for maintenance and licence fees (Oracle database and SSL certificate — a digital certificate that encrypts online communication), with the maintenance fee including a call centre fee of Rs. 20 per minute for inquiries.
Fulfilling this requirement without being a burden to the Government and obtaining a proven technology at international level became the priority of the Department.
Analysts have emphasised that the Government should have invited bids from SLT-Mobitel and others in response to the unsolicited proposal submitted by GBS Technology Services, its subsidiary IVS Global Services and tech platform partner VFS. This would have ensured transparency and fairness and integrity.
Minister Alles defended the selection of GBS-IVS-VFS, citing their global positioning, technological capabilities and zero costs to the Government.
He revealed that the Government entered into a 12-year agreement with GBS-IVS-VFS, which had assured $ 200 million investment in the necessary software and equipment. “The transition has resulted in significant cost savings for the Government, eliminating the Rs. 1 million to 1.5 million previously paid monthly to the local ETA system provider (SLT-Mobitel),” Alles argued.
However $ 18.50 service fee per ETA charged by GBS-IVS-VFS ($ 46.25 million/Rs. 14 billion if 2.5 million tourists are facilitated) would mean foreign exchange outflow and if SLT-Mobitel had been given the opportunity there wouldn’t be an outflow, analysts pointed out.
It is learnt that in November last year SLT-Mobitel wrote to President Ranil Wickremesinghe about its readiness to roll out the improvement but there had been no response or the purported message conveyed that the matter will be looked into, had no headway. SLT-Mobitel had also written to the Public Security Ministry.
Majority (50.23%) owned by the Treasury and 44.98% by Global Telecommunications Holdings NV/Malaysia›s Maxis, there are seven Independent Directors on SLT Board which comprises A.K.D.D.D. Arandara, C.C. Beng, L. Paratz, U.K.K. Vivekananda, S.J. Amarasekera, K.A.S. Keeragala, D. Vidanapathirana, K.M. Liyanage, D.M.I.S. Dasanayake, M.M.C.P. Mohottigedaraw.
