Protest Rally Against Increase in Call Charges. In front of TRC Today

The movement for the protection of consumer rights said service providers have increased call charges and is exploiting ‘reloads’ to their advantage. President of the movement Ranjith Withanage said TRC said to have not granted approval to raise the charges. Hence, he requested the TRC to look into the matter and take legal action.

With the recent increase of taxes by the government, call and internet charges have gone up by more than 49.5 per cent, from 27.5 pc previously, with the addition of the VAT and the NBT.The Director General of TRC stated that they were discussing the matter with the treasury. Minister of Telecommunications, Harin Fernando said he could not intervene in a decision taken by the finance ministry. But, he could only consider granting a concession through other packages. Harin admitted the taxes on a Rs. 100 reload had been increased by more than Rs. 19, up from Rs. 27 previously, to Rs. 46.6. For call charges, the Rs. 1.50 per minute charge has now been raised to Rs. 2.16, However, he claimed Sri Lanka call charges are the lowest in the world.

In the meantime, a protest rally is organized in front of the TRC office at Elvitigala Mawatha, Colombo 05 today (15.05.2016), at 10.00 am, against the increase in call charges and the inclusion of the VAT on phone bills. Several civil society organizations public are expected to take part in the protest rally that will proceed up to Borella main bus stand.