UNP queries WiMax deal from NTT

Sunday Leader
The Chairman of the United National Party has in a letter to the President and CEO of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) of Japan questioned the intended deal SLT is to strike with a private company in order to enter the WiMax market and charged that it lacks transparency.
The Sunday Leader on February 24 exclusively revealed that SLT was poised to enter into a controversial WiMax deal with a company stewarded by President Mahinda Rajapakse's sister's son Himal Hettiarachchi.
In a letter addressed to Tokyo based NTT President cum CEO, Satoshi Miura, UNP Chairman and MP Rukman Senanayake has referred to the article in The Sunday Leader newspaper of February 24, which reported that Sri Lanka Telecom is seeking to participate in a joint venture with Sky Network (Pvt) Limited to operate WiMax in Sri Lanka.
This issue was also raised by several members of parliament in Sri Lanka, Senanayake has said in his letter.
"Sri Lanka Telecom, the largest telecommunication provider for many years has been informed by the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission that they could be provided with a license to begin WiMax services within 45 days.
In this context, it is pertinent to question whether you are not compromising the shareholder's return on investment by operating on a third party license while compelling Sri Lanka Telecom to bear the cost of the network development," the UNP Chairman has queried.
"We, the Opposition in Parliament, Sri Lanka view with grave concern the correctness and propriety of this transaction which we believe does not meet the requirements of transparency," Senanayake has added.