Radio Frequency Spectrum sales draw corruption charges

By Uditha Jayasinghe

After being silent for a year Corruption Watch convened yesterday to issue a challenge to Treasury Secretary P.B Jayasundera and charged that Sri Lanka’s Radio Frequency Spectrum (RFS) has been sold at cheap rates to private companies.    

Corruption Watch Media Spokesman and United National Party (UNP) Western Provincial Council Member Sri Lal Lakthilaka told the media that the government has sold RFS for a nominal price. He charged that the three companies that purchased 3G spectrums paid only Rs.50 million each when the service was worth many times more.

“In India the same RFS was sold at US$ 15.05 billion. Even though one can argue that compared to India Sri Lanka may not have the same economies of scale it would have been possible to get far more than the Rs.150 million that is being paid by these companies to the government now,” he said adding that it was clear massive corruption had taken place in this instance.

He called on the Telecommunications and Regulatory Commission (TRC) to be transparent and publicise the transactions and the costs that are currently paid by the three companies. Given that the licence has to be renewed each year, according to Lakthilaka the government should look into the matter and ensure that the payments increase. He insisted that the licensing fee was also kept at nominal levels.

“Moreover the companies only pay Rs.5 per each Khz, which means that in the 1800 KHz range that is needed for 3G the companies pay as little as Rs.19 million per year. This means around Rs.1.5 million per month. Yet these companies make profits in billions. It is clear that underhand dealings have happened here and the government has intentionally kept these facts from the people.”

Lakthilaka also challenged Treasury Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundera to prove how he has minimised the losses of State Owned Enterprises since taking office. Showing a list of 54 loss making enterprises that are owned by the government he questioned as to how these massive losses could still be happening if the country was developing at the rate the Finance Ministry claimed.

“The government tells us that we are middle income country. This means that we are still in need of investment and right now the government is taking loans for this investment. However if it stopped corruption and wastage in State Owned Enterprises there would be more public funds available for capital investment. Nonetheless this is not happening now.”

If the government wants to prove its good governance intentions then it must first start with these enterprises, he stressed.