(05 May 2018)A TNL transmission centre at Polgahawela was shut down today on a court order issued by the Polgahawela Magistrate’s Court, the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) said.
It said its officials and CID detectives yesterday raided the TNL-owned transmission station in Polgahawela because the network had not obtained the annual transmission licence from the TRC and had failed to make payments since last year.
The TRC said it was a punishable offence to transmit without a valid TRC licence according to the consolidated Act No.25 of 1991, as amended by the Sri Lanka Telecommunications (Amendment) Act No 27 of 1996.
“False social media posts are circulating saying the said transmission station was raided even when the station has already made relevant payments to the TRC. However, there was no payment made to the TRC since 2017,” it said. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)
TNL Chairman to take legal action against TRCSL
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TNL Chairman Shan Wickremesinghe today said the move to shut down their Polgahawela transmission centre was not only unjust but also sudden and that he would take legal action against the TRCSL.
He said he was not informed of the court order which had been obtained by the TRCSL to search the transmission centre.
“The TRC has obtained the warrant on false grounds. We have been paying for the transmission centre for 25 years up to December in 2016. Afterwards, the TRCSL informed us there is an issue with the frequencies. Therefore, I stopped making any further payments awaiting clarification from the TRCSL on the issue of new invoices. Though we gave them several reminders, the TRCSL failed to send us new invoices. The fault is at their end,” Mr.Wickremesinghe told Daily Mirror.
He said the TNL has nine transmission centres including the one at Polgahawela and that the TRCSL has informed him they would raid other centres as well.
“They said they would inspect the transmission centres at Karagahathenna and Hanthana as well. Closing down of the Polgahawela centre had already affected the TNL transmission in many areas. I will sue the TRCSL demanding compensation for the obstruction it had caused and the equipment it had confiscated,” he said. (Lahiru Pothmulla)
DM