On Hold

Mar. 21 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Telecom, the island's dominant fixed-line operator, Tuesday said it would stop connecting new subscribers through Code Division Multiplex Access or CDMA technology with immediate effect, following legal advice. The move follows SLT's decision late Monday to take seek legal redress on a directive issued by the telecom watchdog with regard to their CDMA installation charges.

Prior to suspension of services, SLT was charging Rs18,400 for a CDMA connection, which the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRC) objected and set a March 20 deadline to cut prices to Rs12,000.

"In view of above, Sri Lanka Telecom is reluctantly compelled to suspend the provisioning of new SLT Citylink CDMA connections forthwith and regrets the inconvenience caused to the general public in this regard," SLT said in a statement. CDMA, a low cost wireless technology, is commonly used by operators worldwide for faster mobile phone connections.

In Sri Lanka CDMA is being used to provide fixed-line access, making telephony accessible and affordable to all, even in the most far flung regions.

SLT, which joined the CDMA race after private operators Suntel and Lanka Bell, has sold around 100,000 connections to date.

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