Sri Lanka promotes common telecom facilities in war-torn areas

July 30, 2009 (LBO) - Telecom firms racing to set up networks in Sri Lanka's war-torn north and east, are being encouraged to share infrastructure under a new rebuilding plan, a top official said.



The masterplan includes making it mandatory for at least three operators to share the cost of installing and running network towers, Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) Director General, Priyantha Kariyapperuma said.

"The government does not want too many towers to come up.

These are newly liberated areas, which will have some form of planned development," Kariyapperuma said.

Work on the first of these common towers will get underway next week with a TRC-funded 150 million rupee project designed in the shape of a pyramid.

This 172 meter tower will come up in the northern area of Kokavil, where government forces in May crushed Tamil Tiger rebels after a 30-year separatist war.

The project is due to be completed by December and will have the capacity to host television, radio, wireless and cellular services, he said.

The Kokavil site, was earlier used by the Tigers to broadcast their television programmes.

The premises originally housed a broadcasting tower of the state