Lycamobile bid rejected Mobitel gets Hutch

From Ceylon Today

By Ishara Gamage

Ceylon Finance Today: National mobile service provider Mobitel will conclude the Hutchison Telecom Lanka deal shortly, Telecommunication and Digital Infrastructure Minister Harin Fernando said yesterday (01st).

According to telecoms analysts the value of the deal is US$ 150 million. Fernando however refused to comment on the value of the deal

Speaking to Ceylon Today, he said that Sri Lanka's Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) has rejected United Kingdom-based mobile virtual network operator Lycamobile proposal to buy Hutchison Telecom Lanka. "Too much operators are bad for the industry, that is why TRC rejected the Lycamobile proposal," the minister said.

He said that final evaluation report of the Mobitel-Hutchison deal will out shortly and the government special committee will oversee it for final approval.

Meanwhile, a senior company official of Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) earlier told Ceylon FT that they were planning to conclude the Mobitel-Hutchison deal as early as possible.

Government has already appointed a three-member tender board to oversee the Mobitel-Hutchison deal, he said. The three-member government tender board is headed by Power and Energy Ministry Secretary Dr.Suren Batagoda,. Telecommunication and Digital Infrastructure Ministry Secretary Wasantha Deshapriya and Posts Ministry Secretary Wimalasiri Perera, it's learnt.

Speaking to Ceylon FT recently, Batagoda said that his tender board is awaiting the technical evaluation committee report to go ahead with the Mobitel- Hutchison deal.

He also said that he is unaware of that committee's members and their present status on the deal.

Speaking to Ceylon FT earlier, Sri Lanka Telecom Chairman P. G. Kumarasinghe said that the audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has submitted lower and upper range of pricing for this deal.

Hutchison's spectrum status, asset value and customer base were the main deciding factors of the value of this deal.

It was estimated that the spectrum value is between US$ 72 and 105 million and the asset value is around US$ 115 to 135 million, together with a 400,000 strong customer base.

He also said that there are several government protocols to follow before making any final decision.

"At the moment, Mobitel has only an 'interrupted' spectrum. If they tie up with Hutch, Mobitel will be a powerful mobile operator with a better spectrum", telecoms sector analysts told Ceylon FT.