Transmission frequency reserved for our network illegally allocated to another, alleges Shaan Wickremesinghe

In separate letters addressed to Lalith Weeratunga, Chairman and Anusha Palpita Director General of
the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka, the Chairman of the Teleshan Network Shaan Wickremesinghe has alleged that the transmission frequency reserved for his network has been illegally allocated to another network.

In his letter to the Chairman of the TRC, Lalith Weeratunga, Wickremesinghe notes that several TV
stations are in real trouble due to the TRC issuing their frequencies to a favoured lot who are re-organizing to start fresh.

Writing to the Director General of the TRC Anusha Palpita, Wickremesinghe says that Channel 26
had been used by his network for twenty years, but his network had recently received several complaints that viewers were unable to view his channel due to severe interference.

He goes on to say that upon investigation, it was revealed that Asia Broadcasting had been allocated
the use of Channel 26 from Gammaduwa using 10 kilowatts of power, which is an illegal act by the
TRC which is currently a member of the International Telecommunication Union.

He also makes note of his surprise as to why the TRC issued frequencies to Asia Broadcasting and Voice of Asia after obtaining reservation charges from his network.

Wickremesinghe points out that some years ago these channels were issued channels around 40, but they were cancelled by the TRC as they were not used.

He noted that Asia Broadcasting then went to court to get back the original channels.

Wickremesinghe says that it is therefore a mystery as to why their original channels were not allocated
and instead, his channels in the same area were issued.

In his letter the Chairman of the Teleshan network requests the Director General to stop this illegal
transmission and adhere to the frequency reservations already made according to the seniority of
stations.

He went on to outline the definition of the word "reservation" according to the Oxford dictionary, as,
quote, "…keeping aside or booking or part of an agreement to keep something reserved" unquote.

Meanwhile, reports reveal that several other networks affected by this arbitrary allocation of
frequencies would be taking this matter up with the TRC in the next few days.