New technology launched by Hutch Sri Lanka
Technology is technology and must have a use for the people. Hutch deploys the right technology to make a difference to every Sri Lankan and not merely for the sake of having it.
This is the message to the Hutch consumers in Sri Lanka by Thirukumar Nadarasa, CEO, Hutch Sri Lanka, speaking at the occasion the opening of the Hutch’s New Switching Centre of the Telecommunication Walpola Engineering Centre at Walpola, Ragama last week.
A group of media personnel from Colombo were taken to the Hutch Walpola Network Centre to see the most modern telecom network Switching System – Sri Lanka’s first fully-fledged Network Function Virtualisation (NFV) based Core Network and the 4G rollout.
He said: “We are investing US$200 million with the latest advanced technology and in addition, we are installing the most advanced Billing System, enabling us to offer a wide range of services and products to our consumers – high-tech postpaid, prepaid multiple ways of purchasing our products”.
Responding to a query that there is a regulation to check the speed of the Internet, Mr. Nadarasa said that he was not personally aware of such regulation, but added: “The best regulator is the best service you offer to your customers”. He said that in terms of regulatory control he was a firm believer in competition and said that Sri Lanka has four mobile operators and said that he believed that the best regulator is the competition.
He affirmed that if the service is good the customer would never leave them, but if the service is not good they would leave them overnight and join somebody else and the competition among the operators offer the customer the best service at possible low cost.
He said that in the last quarter of last year they launched 4G and are offering, acceptable Internet, broadband, data collection and connectivity to every part of Sri Lanka for which they are fully equipped with the latest technology.
He indicated that the recent takeover and integration of Etisalat 2G, 3G network under Hutch will also offer competitive 2G and 3G service nationwide on par with its major competitors and said: “Hutch is now able to offer a competitive service”.
Danandaya Ponnamperuma, General Manager, Hutch Sri Lanka said that when Hutch established in Sri Lanka in 1997, it was the era of the ‘half brick size mobile phone’ and had a big change in 1998. Hutch Sri Lanka is backed by CK Hutchison – one of the largest corporate entities in the world – and said that at the end of 2018 Hutch has acquired ‘Etisalat’ and assured both customers of Hutch and Etisalat that the services for customers of both companies would be fairly and equally provided.
Hatchison Telecommunications Lanka (Pvt) Ltd is a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based multinational conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd (CK Hutchison) present in 50 countries operating with 300,000 employees. It is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with a reported turnover of US$58 billion last year.