“Green Tax”: Just another sorry excuse to fund the war?

I was reading the newspapers a few days ago and I happened to notice that a new tax called “Green Tax” aka “Environment Tax” is to be introduced. It also says that anyone who owns a car, house and mobile phone will have to pay Rs 20/= per month. Another is that a tax will be imposed on electronic products, computers and mobile phones in order for them to be recycled. As far as I know there is no mass scale recycling in Sri Lanka of the mentioned products so why tax them for a non existing cause and why should we pay recycling charges for brand new products.

The environment seems to be used as an excuse for funding an aimless and fruitless war and also to increase politicos personal wealth. The war is causing severe pollution in the northern/eastern areas of this island and the so called “Green Tax” is actually going cause more harm than good.

The Minister who is charge of managing the environmental should be more actively involved in protecting it rather than implementing taxes that are not relevant to environmental protection.

 

UniFlow Patriotism

Not many of us are members of the fortunate clan that owns vehicles or the even more fortunate clan that has the ability to have the roads closed and cleared up for in order for them to reach their destination comfortably. So for those of us who bus it everyday from areas like Colpetty to Pettah as of late, it has become a strenuous exercise. Every minute that you get late to leave office increases the time to travel to Pettah by a larger margin.

Previously when we the ordinary law abiding citizens of this country were not considered a security threat and were allowed to travel to Pettah on the Galle Road, the journey would take approximately 10 minutes. Now of course it is no less than 30 minutes and the later you get, the larger the time required to travel. If the “one who should not be named” decides to take to the roads then only a magic wand can help us and as of now the wands are out of stock.

So at the moment the citizens of this country have no option but to travel in severe traffic for over 30 minutes when the journey should actually take only about 10 minutes and this is just from Colpetty to Pettah, I wonder how it for those who travel on other roads. It is said that time is money so this further adds to the amount of money that is being wasted in this country due to this senseless war. A new high speed train was developed (cannot remember where) to reduce the time taken by commuters to travel by 20 minutes. So instead of taking measures to improve the transport system and time taken to travel, we are successfully implementing measures that will result in more time being wasted. I am sure all of this is adding more pressure to our already unstable economy.

However our local pus patriots only shout against things that will bring some good to this country such as ending the conflict and proclaim that the country is headed down the wrong path. Sri Lanka is a country that has no true patriots in powerful positions and the powerful people who think of themselves as patriots do not know the meaning of patriotism and do not practice it.

 

Even dogs are not exempt

Thats right even our canine friends are to be taxed. I heard this on the Sun FM evening news bulletin about two days ago and I frankly do not know what to make of it. I know that taxes are an important part of maintaining the economy but isn’t this just taking things too far. They are planning to raise the levy on mobile bills plus an additional Rs 50/= on the SIM. I wonder how this will be charged from people who have prepaid packages, anyway that is a problem that will have to be dealt with by the service provider. Mobile phones are no longer luxury and people from the usual coconut plucker to the CEO has one.

Lets see if I have got this right, we are going to pay higher taxes because the government needs money to run the country, otherwise they will print money which will result in high inflation. However all these taxes are not for improving the stability of the economy but rather for our elected (and non elected) officials to embezzle more in order for them to have a comfortable life once their time is up.

As for now since they are planning to tax dogs I wonder what they will plan to tax next?

 

Airtel to launch services in March 2008

Looks like the fifth mobile operator in Sri Lanka, Airtel will be launching services around March 2008. At least that is what I gather from their press statement recently, they have said that the launch will take place towards the end of the last quarter of the 2007/08 financial year. Oh and for those of you who are looking for a job it seems that Airtel are on a recruitment drive and anyone who is interested can apply.

Now that being said lets look at what we can expect from Airtel. By looking at advertisements on the pay television channels I find Airtel to be more impressive that any of the other cellular operators in India that advertise on the pay television channels. However we cannot go by advertisements alone since they can be very misleading. Airtel is getting ready to launch their very own DTH pay television service too in India. They may make the service available in Sri Lanka as their cellular business gets established here. Airtel will be able to make inroads into the Sri Lankan cellular phone business but the operators already present will not make it easy for them. There is more room for the local cellular market to expand and they can all share the pie without trying to lure the subscribers of the other operators.

Airtel will probably adopt the approach taken by Dialog CDMA and that is by launching services in the rural areas first and them launching in Colombo and the suburbs which are more or less dominated by the existing operators. The expansion into Colombo may come as a mere formality but then not everyone in Colombo has a cellphone either, so they will definitely try to lure non cellular phone users in Colombo too.

What is interesting to note is that Airtel is in close collaboration with Vodafone and at present our cellular market leader Dialog GSM is also in close collaboration with Vodafone. Wonder how that will play out when Airtel launches services here?

One thing that is for certain is that the increase in competition will be very beneficial for the subscribers as well as those who want to purchase a connection in the future as the operating will try to out do each other by providing benefits.

 

Suntel’s prospective buyer

Mahanagam Telephone Nigam Ltd., (MTNL) are likely to buy Suntel after their technical assessment of the company. MTNL is a state run telecom firm in India and has had a run of unsuccessful attempts in trying to run a business out of India. Among the failures of MTNL is their unsuccessful attempt at securing a mobile and fixed license in Saudi Arabia in April and also a failure to secure a license in Kenya. They were successful in acquiring a fixed and mobile license in Mauritius but have not developed on it. This is probably the major successful overseas acquisition by MTNL.

They are in the run for the purchase of Suntel and are ahead of competition from a consortium lead by John Keells and also a bid from Telekom Malaysia (the owners of Dialog Telekom). It seems that Telekom Malaysia even though they bid for Suntel did not pursue to an attempt to purchase Suntel because they had already setup the base to launch Dialog CDMA.

MTNL does not have an experience in running an overseas operation but have quite a good portfolio of services in India which includes an IPTV operation. It is yet to be confirmed whether they are taking over Suntel and when that happens they will have to brace for some severe competition from the likes of Dialog CDMA who have already launched services in outstation areas and are planning to launch CDMA operations in colombo and the suburbs in August.

 

Sri Lanka Telecom and its Patriots

Looks like we have a bunch of patriots in this country who love SLT very much. There are posters all over town saying that the Tigers are going to buy SLT. The main reason behind this is because a company called Maxis which is owned by Ananda Krishnan a Sri Lankan Tamil is going to buy shares of SLT. It seems a very silly accusation, Ananda Krishnan is apparently the second richest man in Southeast Asia and ranked 147 in Forbes 2006 classification of the Worlds Richest People. He name appears constantly appears in the Forbes list of Billionaires. This guy seems to be a born businessman (or at least studied to be one). Anyway because he is operating in Malaysia and is a Tamil it is unfair to label him a Tiger. If they suspect anything of that nature then they should pressurise the Malaysian government to investigate him, and he is innocent until they find him guilty.

I agree that there are several questions hanging over this SLT deal such as the bid by one Indonesian company which was apparently overlooked by the government.

The best thing here is to highlight the corruption of the local authorities and urging them to sell SLT to a company which is giving the best in terms of benefits and management capabilities instead of pasting posters in public places labeling Ananda Krishnan a Tiger.

Anyway should we Sri Lankans be proud of Ananda Krishnan or not, he has achieved a lot in terms of business success and is a well known businessman and the fact is that the man is a Sri Lankan.

If Maxis is offering the best deal to buy shares of SLT then they should sell the shares concerned to them and we can be proud of the fact that a Sri Lankan whose parents migrated to another country has been able to make a mark in that country and in the world and is in turn investing in his homeland. But if they are not offering the best deal and if a politician is trying to make a fast buck by manipulating this deal then they should not go ahead with the sale.

Like I said before the point that should be highlighted here is the corruption among our local authorities instead of taking petty political sling shots by labeling someone else a terrorist.

 

Loan Adventures

I am trying to apply for a loan in order to fulfill an urgent personal need. So I went for a Personal loan and tried to start my adventures at Commercial Bank. Since I have already obtained a small loan from them they were weary of providing a second loan, so I looked elsewhere.

Adventure 1 : Hatton National Bank – This started out pretty fine. I had to look for two guarantors who had to sign on a Rs 100/= stamp in front of a Justice of Peace or Attorney at law. They had to declare their movable and immovable assets ( since the loan was for a relatively small amount and they do not like to declare their assets, so they did not do so). After all that hassle, I handled over the application at the bank. I was told to give about 3 days for processing. What I should have known was that it meant that the application will stay idle for three days. On the fourth day I gave a call and I was told that I should get the guarantors ready to come there and sign the application. I asked whether the loan is confirmed, I was told that they will confirm in the evening. In the evening I was told that a guarantor will require some sort of assets, so I have to get him to declare them. I was told initially that my basic salary will have to exceed a certain amount for the loan to be passed and my basic was higher than their limit but now they say that it is not my basic but it should be my net salary that should be higher. So this is when that I understood that my application is being looked at on the fourth day and it remained idle for the last three days. When I explained to the Loans officer what I was told by him before I was told to get the guarantor to declare assets and then it should be okay. After speaking to the guarantor, he said that he will declare his assets and the next morning, five minutes before I could call the bank I got a call saying saying that the manager rejected the application based on the salary so I cannot proceed any further. I was also told that the system does not accept the salary (so who approves manager or system).I have heard that these HNB managers need some sort of incentive to approve anything so I guess if I had met the manager and offered a certain percentage of my loan it would have worked out and the system would have accepted my salary but I was not prepared to do it since I do not like to bribe people and hate people accept them.

Adventure 2 : HSBC - Since I am a HSBC card holder, I was told that I can apply for a lifestyle loan from them. Upon visiting they checked my card details and I was told that I was eligible. I made the application. A few days later since there was no response from them I gave a call to check and I found out that it has been rejected. Apparently they say that there is some score that is very vital and it depends on credit card usage and my score on usage is not enough. So much for a lifestyle loan.

Adventure 3 : ICICI Bank - Called them up and they say that the salary should definitely have been sent to the bank and doing so from now is no point unless I do it for about 3 or more months and then apply. I get mine and hand delivered by the accoutant or the assistant accountant. Only “A” grade private companies and government institute employees are given loans by them if their salaries are not sent to banks. I am still trying to figure how they class “A” grade private companies.

Adventures 4 : State Banks - After my sour experience with state banks trying to get a lease to buy a computer I did not pursue them too much. However I called a few of them and there conditions are so high, I am not sure why anyone who can fulfill those conditions will ever try to apply for a personal loan.

Adventures 5 : NDB - Salary to bank issue exists and is the same as for ICICI Bank. In addition they need higher salary requirements and if I had that salary I would not be applying for loans.

So I have a few more banks on my list like Nations Trust Bank, Standard Chartered and a few other. I will definitely keep all of you posted on my adventures to obtain a loan.

 

3G in Sri Lanka a success/failure

Anyone who has been reading the business sections these days would have noted with interest how the management of Tigo Sri Lanka have downplayed the use of 3G technology for the time being. They have said that the technology is not mature and all else. Are they just making excuses for not grabbing a 3G license which was quite costly mind you or is it a really genuine picture of 3G? 3G has been successful to a certain extent and then has been unsuccessful and has been in instances become over hyped. Certain European operators have experienced this problem. But then this is Sri Lanka and not Europe and the 3G market may be different here. The prices of entry level 3G products are dropping and as we have seen in Sri Lanka the prices of the high end 3G phones will come down. There are some really cheap 3G products in Pettah too.

The major application of 3G at the moment is video calling which is only possible if both ends are equipped with 3G phones and the odds of that happening at the moment is very low. Then there is the ability to transfer high speed data. This high speed is not as high speed as DSL, etc but then when you are on the move, what are the odds that you will be able to have access to a DSL terminal or a Wifi access point. Oh also it is not guaranteed that the areas will be covered by Wimax services. Your 3G phone will become handy then if the network is 3G enabled in the location or else it is back to the good old cyber cafe.

The major reason why 3G was slow to develop is the lack of applications other than Data Speed and Video Calling. At the moment the applications are being developed.

Two major mobile networks Mobitel and Dialog GSM have gone into 3G with the latter carrying out expanding their 3G network and the former carrying out 3G testing in Kandy and the rollout will commence this year. At the moment Hutch Sri Lanka is totally hush about 3G – well at least I have not heard anything. Anyway I am not so sure whether Hutch is contemplating moving out of the Sri Lankan market since Hutch sold shares of Hutch India to Vodafone.

I for one am certain that my next mobile phone will be 3G even it has to be a entry level 3G phone, hopefully it is a highend one though. It won’t be long until we see the real impact of 3G on the Sri Lankan market.

 

The Dialog TV Age

Things seem to be hotting up in the pay television market it seems with the launch of Dialog TV and due to their aggresive marketing campaign it seems that everyone is now talking about pay television in a scale never seen before.

So can Dialog Telekom do to pay television what they did to the mobile phone industry. They started off as the fourth mobile phone operator and I never expected them to make it this big in the industry. Now they are the leading mobile phone operator in the market and most of the cellular phone users are hooked to Dialog GSM.

With Dialog TV the entire scenario is different. They got into pay television after acquiring CBNsat and is the third major Sri Lankan operator in the pay television market. The other two Comet Cable and LBN cannot be considered as competition since Comet Cable the pioneer pay television company is suffering from financial woes, outdated technology and channel capacity problems. LBN is limited to only a few areas since they are fixed line operator. Competition will come though in the form of SLT IPTV but then I am not sure how much competition they will give Dialog since they will not be able to deploy the connections islandwide due to the fact that they will be using their fixed broadband connections to deliver content. Not all Sri Lankans have SLT since there are those like me who are nervous about SLT regarding their service and the probability of political interference in them due to the government holding shares in it.

So with competition Dialog GSM made it big now it is left to see whether Dialog TV can do better with less competition. One thing that was a trademark with Dialog GSM was the rollout of value added services on a frequent basis and lets hope that this trend is adopted by Dialog TV too. If it is successful and they get the formula right then it will have a much better impact on this region that Dialog GSM did since this is satellite based and the South Asian region is easily accessible.

So only time will tell whether the pay television revolution in Sri Lanka would have begun due to Dialog TV and the time period will be known as The Dialog TV Age.

 

Tigo

After a hectic day at work (actually it is “hectic days” – the reason why I could not blog for some time) while I was on my way home I happened to see some interesting posters which were teasers of something to be launched soon. Some of them were saying “Make a noise” and then while watching American Idol yesterday I happened to see the same thing. I did not give it much thought though and then on my way to office I saw that a Celltel advertising hoarding had just changed from Celltel to Tigo overnight.

The advertisement was so vague that I never got a clue and I thought that it might be just another new clothing store or something else that has opened.

It was only when I came into office and opened up The Daily Mirror did I realise that Celltel has been rebranded as Tigo. So that’s what all this fuss was all about.

Well so this makes Celltel the first mobile network to rebrand itself under the same management but it is actually the second network to undergo rebranding without taking management change into consideration. Since Hutch previous called “Call Link” first rebranded itself to “Hutch” after a change in management and doing a stint as “Hutchison Telecom”. What happened to Mobitel cannot be considered as rebranding since it was called Mobitel when it was under Telstra Australia and it is still Mobitel except for the change in the outlook.

Coming back to the topic, Sri Lanka’s pioneer mobile network becomes Tigo which is the brand name of almost all the mobile phone services owned by Millicom International Celllular in over 13 countries.

Well lets see what Tigo will provide since Airtel is also expected to launch by the end of this year.

As for me and my Dialog GSM connection it will always be “Till Death Do Us Part”. Unless of course Tigo comes up with that really good offer that I cannot resist and it will have to be really good since it has to be worth the pain of informing all my contacts about the change.