LBO-LBR CEO Forum

July 30, 2010 (LB0) - Recently imposed floor prices on mobile users by the regulator can be removed within two years, while celco operators have themselves to blame for pushing the sector deep into the red, a senior executive said. "None of us are saying that having an anti-market instrument like floor prices is a good thing on the long run, but it’s the plugging instrument to stop a dip in an industry," Hans Wijayasuriya, chief executive at Dialog Axiata said.

"It's a violent measure, it has to be done, it should have been done before and it is something which will give stability and certainty on the pricing domain so operators can concentrate on other dimensions of their business."

Earlier this month the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (TRC) announced a floor price of a rupee for all voice calls on the same network and two rupees for voice calls between different networks.

Previously sold connections are immune to floor prices.

The TRC also said the previous sender network keeps all (SKA) would also be replaced by a mobile termination charge of 50 cents per minute and 15 cents for a short message service (SMS).

The new regime came into play on July 15, 2010. Floor prices make older connections mo