SLT to SLTV?

Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) is planning to invest in a television station and ‘differentiating’ its product offering based on Internet provider (IP) technology to beat the competition.

“We have applied for a non voice telecommunication service license to use cable and satellite technologies and we want to get into television,” Shuhei Anan, CEO, SLT told The Sunday Times FT last week.

He said the company, no sooner they get the license, will start working on the TV station and is the second company after Dialog GSM to announce such a move.

“At present we are awaiting approval. When we get the license we want to start a TV station,” Anan explained. SLT wants to launch a packaged product together with television content for mobile phones in order to better face competition next year.

He said that SLT will combine CDMA (Code-Division Multiple Access, a digital cellular technology), ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line, a new technology that allows more data to be sent over existing copper telephone lines), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) and Wi Max services based on IP technologies. “The television station and the content it will offer will be very helpful in this context,” he added.

He said the combined product will push the tariffs down. “When the four services are combined, it will help reduce the tariffs and we also want to expand our market share by riding on the tariff reduction,” he added.

"Mobile phone TV fulfills a human desire to be informed and connected to news, entertainment and information services especially as our lives become increasingly mobile," an industry analyst said, adding that mobile phone TV can deliver more multimedia and online services in addition to traditional TV-like broadcasts.