Interview with CTO of Etisalat Lanka
May 31, 2010 03:58 pm
Amiable, down to earth and friendly, Etisalat Lanka’s Chief Technical
Officer Mr. Sanath Pilaptiya has been in the company for over 16 years having
joined in 1993. Describing himself as a person with strong determination to achieve
his goals, he always follows certain principles as a guideline. Educated at
Trinity college, he has a BSc (Hons) from the
Q: What is your role within the company?
A: I am totally responsible for the whole network, including Information
Technology. We have to ensure maintenance of a certain grade and quality of
service to the customer, network expansion in line with the growth plan and tangible
contribution to the growth of the business.
Q: How has the company encouraged you and how do you in turn drive your
technical team?
A: From the day I joined I was encouraged to contribute ideas and opinions,
which empowered me to make suggestions. It was a very interactive and progressive
approach, which I continue to adopt with my team. Employees are very happy when
they are empowered and engaged. Therefore we have driven the company in way
where we try to implement any good suggestions. As a result the churn rate of
people leaving the company is very low. We give them necessary education,
facilities and most importantly recognition to keep them satisfied. Keeping the
employees happy has been in the culture for a long time and I also try to adopt
it when leading my team. After all, as a service company, if the employees are
not happy- then you cannot make the customers happy.
Q: From a technological perspective, what developments have taken place in
the company since you joined?
A: When I joined there were only four cell towers for CellTell and its steadily
growing ever since. Also, at that time the only available technology was
analogue cellular, from which in 2000 we moved to GSM. There was no
sophisticated equipment back then. We learnt a lot as things progressed and new
technologies came in. Regrettably, we were a little late to get into GSM but in
the long run we were able to enter the market with the latest and most
compatible GSM technology, which was manufactured with future proof technology.
We were also the 1st to introduce pre-paid which became very famous.
Q: What is the next step?
A: Going forward, Etisalat want to be the technological leaders and with
their financial support, we will definitely achieve it. We will introduce the
latest and best technology into
Q: Where do you stand with regard to industry competition?
A: Actually the challenges ahead are things we are all geared to face. We have a good relationship with our competitors. So when it comes to tower sharing or jointly sharing resources, we are always very corporative and have a good mutual understanding. From a technical point of view there is no real competition. The competition comes in with the packages offers and branding and such. However, with Etisalat onboard we will be clear leaders in every aspect because with the new parent we have all the backing we need.