When I look out from my office window, I can have a marvelous view of the gigantic Lotus Tower ( Nelum Kuluna) which is at the final stages of its completion. It’s going to be an Iconic structure in Colombo which will attract local and international tourists. One of the main objectives of The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) , who spearheaded the project was to use the lotus tower as a transmission hub for broadcasters. In addition to the antenna space this facility would be providing connectivity, energy, security and other utility requirements to the broadcasters to host their transmission stations under one roof.

Infrastructure consolidation and sharing is not new to the Telecommunication Industry. Telecom Operators have been sharing the cellular towers and other related infrastructure to reduce capex and opex and to speed up the network deployments. Further the regulators all over the world including TRCSL in Sri Lanka have been promoting infrastructure sharing to minimize environmental and esthetic impacts. It is high time that we look beyond our own domain and the industry and achieve the benefits of common infrastructure.

Last year I was attending a Planning forum organized by IESL at its head quarters. The Engineering heads of leading public sector and private sector organizations including Water board, CEB, CECB, RDA, UDA ,CMC and some Telcom operators were also present. One of the hot topics at the discussion was the challenge these organizations face in infrastructure development with the increasing demand for their services by public. Further the projects like Colombo Port expansions need roads to be widened, power feeders to be laid, drainage and water supplies to be upgraded, & telecom cables to be laid etc.. What had been our approach? Each of these organizations carried out the projects separately. We have dug the same road, same place multiple times to deploy our individual services. We have laid power and telecom cables on different poles on same road by different companies. Why can’t we provide common service passages, provision for water supplies, power ,telecommunications? Had such common infrastructure was built, we would have saved millions of rupees wasted as capital expenditure and service costs doing similar things again and again by different parties.

It’s the time to think collaboratively. We should develop common infrastructure development model. Such arrangements need robust operations and maintenance strategy. The security and redundancy aspects also shall be addressed. Most of the developed nations have been doing this for years. There may be regulatory and legal boundaries of our current businesses. Yet those challenges shall be addressed to do what is best for the country.

Eng. Indika Walpitage
Indika.walpitage@gmail.com