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Monday, March 5, 2007
NEW DELHI: Sri Lanka's Ministry of Defense has directed the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) to ban the sale of all telecom services via third party retailers in the country's North and East.
The decision is an effort to prevent the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) from “using the retail network for military operations”.
With this measure, operators will have to stop selling telecom equipment and services like pre-paid cards and new connections to people in the north and east via third parties.
A statement from the island nation’s Defense Ministry said: “having considered all national security-related issues, it arrived at this decision to safeguard the interests of the general public”.
The directive was issued after an investigation found that the LTTE had penetrated into the distribution network of retailers of telecom products and was using it for terrorist activities.
The telecommunication service providers have been advised to take adequate measures to make their services available without interruption through their own distribution network or through distributors approved by the Defense Ministry.
“We unearthed a major conspiracy that would have had a serious impact on the civilian population. It was averted in the nick of time. The LTTE was also on the brink of receiving details of VIP movements via this channel and we were able to avoid this major catastrophe due to timely action,” the ministry said.
Currently Dialog Telekom, Mobitel, Tigo (Celltel) and Hutch provide services with Airtel of India eyeing the fifth mobile operator status and Sri Lanka Telecom, Lanka Bell and Suntel providing the fixed line services in the island nation. There are currently almost 7.5 million subscribers in the sector.
© CyberMedia News
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