Baseless allegations on assigning TRCSL frequencies

Digital television frequency bands not released yet:

Reports in some media that the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) has assigned frequencies to some institutions in a fraudulent manner are false and baseless, a statement from the President’s Office said.

The statement said the digital television frequency bands in Sri Lanka has not been released to the market yet and in this backdrop allegations that the government has incurred losses by selling frequencies to the private sector without proper tender procedures were false and baseless.

The 700 MHz(694-806) MHz band proposed for the mobile broadband expansion includes UHF channels 49 to 62. Currently these channels are used for Analog TV. This has been allocated only until the starting date of the digital TV project in Sri Lanka.

In addition the TRN institution uses several frequencies illegally for digital broadcasting and two separate cases have been filed in the Colombo and Jaffna courts in this regard.

The TRCSL has not allocated frequencies for TV stations without prior tenders or by auction at any instance. For the 700 MHz frequency band at no time tenders have been called from other telecommunication service providers.

The annual fees charged by the TRCSL has been noted in the gazette 1104 issued on November 1, 1997 and later in accordance with the budget proposals had taken steps to double that amount as charges for frequency relaying equipment.

The TRCSL in accordance with the government policies is currently working on digital television transition. After this process 700 MHz band will be allocated for mobile broadband and will be given to relevant institutions.

The TRCSL since 2015 up to now has issued licenses following due procedure and also in a very transparent manner. As such the reports in some media about fraudulent deeds with regards to frequency assignment are completely false and baseless, the statement added.

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