Unveiling a pivotal achievement post its strategic acquisition of Etisalat Lanka (Pvt) Ltd., in 2018, Hutchison Telecommunications Lanka (Pvt) Ltd will invest USD 200 million in the next three years for network expansion Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of HUTCH, Thirukumar Nadarasa said.
“We have invested around USD 100 million last year.”
He said that they don’t see an urgent need to invest in 5G network where there is a lot of hype. “However we have got the TRC licenses and are running 5G trials and when the demand emerges will roll it out.”
He said that whatever the 5G network demands and services required now are now been serviced by their advanced 4G network and Sri Lanka is not deploying driverless cars or online surgery that requiems the 5G network. “Also one less than 50% of the population have smart phones and they don’t see an urgent need to deploy 5G in Sri Lanka.”
“We have now completed the island-wide network coverage of 4G where the population as much as 95% is covered across all 25 districts.
“We are delighted to announce the 100% successful merger of both the networks and with it now we have over 3,500 sites.”
“The 4G network expansion was a complex process and a total of more than 400 engineers and technical support staff from Sri Lanka and experts from several other countries were deployed to execute the project.”
He said that the recent tax reductions for the Telco industry has resulted in a win win situation for both customers and the company as they see more usage.
“ As part of its aggressive expansion plans, we plan to deploy an extensive product range across voice, data and other services at the most affordable price points, to supplement the enhanced network,” said HUTCH Chief Technology Officer Dhananjaya Ponnamperuma
Chief Marketing Officer Ramzeena Morseth Lye said that Telco is one of the biggest industries in the world that face deflations. “A call which was at Rs. 10 is today under Rs. 3.”
Hutch has also completed installation of the most advanced switch and core network in the country as part of the strategic investment. In addition, the company has deployed one of the most progressive Converged Billing Systems (CvBS) in the world, where Post-pay and Pre-paid billing systems can run on a single hybrid platform.