The Sri Lankan mobile industry has urged the government to scrap a proposed 200,000 rupee ($1,306) monthly levy on mobile towers on the grounds that it could substantially impact connectivity in rural areas.
In a statement, industry members said the proposed charge would make towers even more unprofitable, particularly in rural areas where towers may need to be removed.
This would impair the government's goal of improving internet penetration in the country, which is currently only at around 38%.
The statement pointed out that three of the market's five operators are still loss-making and the tower levy would make this situation worse, to the extent that the three major international investors may consider exiting the market.
While the proposed levy is partly aimed at increasing tower sharing, the operators noted that all operators are already obliged to share towers before any approval is given to build a new one. But each tower can only support the equipment of two or three operators due to tower loading constraints.
A tower is also already “extremely costly to build and operate” and the additional levy would increase the monthly operational cost of a tower by 174% to 315,000 rupees, the operators said.
Finally, in response to the environmental and health hazard concerns raised as part of the proposal, the operators said the industry already complies with all local and international environmental and health standards, including World Health Organization and GSMA standards.
Sri Lanka currently has nearly 6,750 towers to support the needs of a population of 20 million.