SLT- No duty free handsets yet

Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) is yet to sign a Board of Investment (BOI) agreement to import duty free telephone handsets while waiting for the particular regulation to be gazetted, according to BOI sources.

“The BOI has given approval under section 17 but it is a legal document only and not an agreement between SLT and BOI,” a BOI official explained, adding that in order to strike an agreement, the regulation has to be in place.

This approval allows the company to import and purchase (locally) project related items free of customs duty. “SLT has still not signed the agreement with the BOI for section 17 approval because the BOI is trying to get the sanction approved. They have sent it to the Attorney General’s Department,” an SLT source said.

Other companies like Suntel and Lanka Bell have duty free concessions as per their BOI agreement.

SLT wants to connect more than 500,000 CDMA phones before the end of the year after obtaining the duty free status.

Official figures show that SLT, despite not having duty free import status, currently has 400,000 CDMA phones higher than Lanka Bell at 300,000 and Suntel which has less than 300,000.