Telcos seek fair electricity tariffs to sustain network operations
Sri Lanka’s telcos have written to the Ministry of Digital Economy to include them in the industrial electricity tariff rather than the general tariff, owing to the impact of electricity costs on network operations and profitability, officials said.
“The operators had requested this from the last budget and also from the previous government, and both times they were told that they are considering it,” an official said.
The Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRC) has committed to covering 75 per cent of the cost of 100 new towers in areas with weak connectivity. So far, about 45 of them have been completed. Dialog has set up 15 towers, Hutch eight and Mobitel 15.
Teleco operators claim that setting up towers in rural areas to cover blind spots is not profitable. The cost of putting up a tower is about Rs. 40 million.
“The telecom industry faces high electricity costs and financial constraints, which are major hurdles for our expansion. We have also suggested power wheeling, which is a system that allows an entity to use an existing electricity grid to transmit power from a generator from renewable energy,” an industry official said. He said the economic crisis had forced the operators to reduce their budgets for tower construction.
Operators are increasingly turning to infrastructure sharing arrangements and independent tower companies to streamline costs and expand their coverage.
The TRC Act was amended about two years ago to allow third-party companies to set up towers, and a Malaysian telecoms infrastructure company, Edotco, was awarded a telecoms infrastructure services licence to construct tower and pole structures, and an indoor network solution such as small cells and other active network components.
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