Financial Times

Delayed bills issue raised at SLT AGM
Many shareholders at the annual general meeting of Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) on Friday raised questions about the controversial billing system and why there was a four-month delay in the issue of bills.

But there were no satisfactory answers. "There were no acceptable responses to the billing issues," one shareholder said adding that questions were also raised as to a possible loss to the company due to delayed collections. Last week SLT sent the January 2004 bill to subscribers with a 23-day deadline and said bills will be issued every 23 days.

Some shareholders were of the view that the management shouldn't have changed the old billing system which was effective. An official from the Sri Lanka Independent Trade Union Alliance urged the company not to resort to further privatisation.

SLT chairman Thilanga Sumathipala, in remand and facing immigration charges, was not present but a message from him was read out by Mohan Ratnayake, General Manager, Investor Relations, SLT. The meeting was chaired by Shuhei Anan, CEO with two other directors present. They were unavailable for comment.

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