SLT service sore but tariffs soar!

IT is now ten years since the State-owned Telecommunication service was privatised and re-named Sri Lanka Telecom or SLT.

Subscribers of SLT will observe that over the years the call charges have skyrocketed. Earlier the call rates were on a distance time basis. But now there are only two categories of calls-local calls (originating and terminating within the same telephone exchange) and long distance calls.

If a subscriber from Moratuwa calls a fellow subscriber in Panadura or one in Jaffna or Hambantota both are classified as long distance calls.

I really don't know on what basis the SLT decided on this scheme. Even the SLT's CEO, a Japanese expert on Telecommunications very well know how telephone calls are metered in Japan. A call from Tokyo to Yakohama and Tokyo to Kyoto or Hiroshima is not costed at the same rate.

The SLT once indicated that calls to emergency Police on 119 would be toll free as in other countries. But my experience is that they do charge for these and to add insult to injury they proudly indicate it separately on the monthly bill.

Another shortcoming of the SLT is that even though they boast of a subscriber base of nearly 1.2 million, a person from Colombo cannot get a call through quickly to a person in Kandy just 72 miles away. We have to tolerate the famous SLT recording.

The SLT also has not updated its answering machines. when a subscriber's telephones' outgoing facilities are suspended for delayed settlement of bills, there is a recording that comes which says "Your No. is temporarily out of service, please contact 122 for details".

But when you call as advised you get another recorded message which says "The No. you dialled is not in use". What is the matter?

The SLT also proudly claims they have introduced and installed CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) phones that is supposed to provide superior coverage and faster connectivity at the same rate as for SLT subscribers.

I often take calls to these CDMA subscribers in Kurunegala and Kandy on my ALT line after 9 p.m. But the call gets disconnected after (say) 15-30 seconds. This does not happen once or twice but is a daily repeated exercise.

According to the SLT the reason for calls getting disconnected or cut off is due to low or no signals. If there are no signals how can a call get connected and then cut off after a few seconds. I wonder if any of the higher ups of SLT use the SLT fixed lined telephones in their homes.

If so they will experience what I have mentioned. If they are on mobile phones (for which the SLT pays) then of course they wouldn't have experienced any problems.

It is time the TRC (Telephone Regulatory Commission) looks into the 2 tier call tariff of the SLT and re-introduce a distance time based tariff as in other countries.

TILAK FERNANDO - Colombo 6