LBN writes to customers........

21st September 2006

Dear Customer,

We are pleased to inform you that the Defense clearance has been granted to LBN. The TRC (Telecommunications Regulatory Commission) also informed the court that the application for the license has been processed and will be forwarded for approval/signature of His Excellency, The President on his return to the island.

We expect the license to be granted on or before the 3rd of October, the next date of hearing at the Court of Appeal.

Management

LBN Magisterial Court hearing postponed to Nov 9th

We have received an update from LBN regarding their Magisterial Court hearing and looks like it has been postponed to November 9th.

"At the Magisterial Court yesterday (Sept 20th), the case was postponed to 9th November. However LBN can file a motion anytime before that in the event the TRC license is granted. We are expecting the TRC license to be granted on or before the 3rd of October - Shirantha Herath"

Please keep us updated on the latest news regarding LBN as the days progress.

LBN Appeals Court Case postponed to Oct 3rd

According to reports from LBN management the LBN Appeals court case has been postponed to Oct 3rd and they are due to have their Magisterial Court Case tomorrow.

"The case was mentioned at the Court of Appeal today (Sept 19th). The counsel for the TRC stated that the license application of LBN has been processed and is pending the Presidents signature. the counsel for the Media Minister stated that the application for the media license is being processed. The case will called again on the 3rd of October for settlement. The Magistrates Court case is tomorrow, 20th September. - Shirantha Herath"

Hopefully the authorities know the meaning of the word "settlement" and it seems that everything is okay with the TRC license and requires only the signature of H.E but looks like the Media Ministry is still processing the application. Hopefully they finish by Oct 3rd without giving flimsy excuses.

LBN Court Case today (Sept 19th)

LBN will be having their court hearing today. We are unable to confirm the time of the hearing. Could anyone who knows the time please update this blog on the time of the hearing.

Hopefully the TRC issues the license to LBN today or at least confirm the date in which LBN can start operations without dragging this issue any further.

The jobs of all the employees and the money invested by the company as well as it's customers is in the hands of the courts.

We are hoping for a positive outcome and NO EXCUSES PLEASE.

Please keep us updated on the results of todays proceedings as well as any updates on LBN as the day progresses.

LBN Shutdown - Three Months Completed

With today we believe that LBN has completed exactly three months since they were shut by authorities who said that they do not have a valid license. They find about this after several years. Talk about efficiency of state sector institutions.

Now that the MoD clearance has been issued we hope that the license will be issued on Tuesday 19th September WITHOUT ANY FURTHER DELAY.

We are now receiving emails from bloggers in foreign countries regarding this cable tv shutdown which shows us that this news is now spreading internationally. This together with the present situation in sri lanka will cause a definite reduction in foreign investment.

We hope that the authorities will take necessary measures to stabilize the cable tv industry and issue immediate resolutions to these problems. It is now three months and if these companies shutdown it will add only to the ever increasing unemployment figures.

Please keep us updated on any news regarding LBN as the days progress.

Communication from LBN regarding hearing

Given below is the communication that we received from LBN regarding the LBN hearing that was held yesterday(Sept 11th).

"At the court of Appeal today(Sept 11th) , the counsel for the TRC stated that the defence Approval for LBN has been received by the TRC and that the TRC license will be processed during the course of this week. (Before 15th Friday)

The next date for the hearing was set for Tuesday 19th September 2006."

LBN has also expressed disappointment over not receiving the license yesterday but they are hopeful of receiving the license soon and have not given us any specific date for resuming transmissions. LBN may not be wanting to commit a date for resuming transmissions due to the elastic nature of these court hearings. This is quite understandable taking into account the nature of the state institutions and the legal system. After all this is Sri Lanka.

Please keep us updated on any new developments regarding LBN as the days progress.

LBN gets MoD clearance

We are receiving unofficial information that LBN has been cleared by the MoD and that the application has been handed over to the President for his approval.

According to reports that we are receiving we are getting information that LBN should be back on air within two weeks. The next hearing for LBN is scheduled for September 19th where the Presidents approval will be announced. We feel that the TRC will issue the license to LBN within a week after the Presidents approval is given since the TRC had requested for one week after approval for the license during a previous hearing.

We are still awaiting official confirmation from LBN themselves regarding this court hearing since none of the above information that we have given is confirmed.

Please keep us updated on this as the day progresses.

LBN court hearing today (Sept 11th)

Today LBN is scheduled to have its court hearing today. We do not have any indication on the time of the hearing. But according to reports it is scheduled to be in the morning.

Today we should know the decision that was given by the MoD to the TRC. Hopefully everything works out for LBN today and transmissions should resume soon.

We would like to request the authorities to solve this mess that has plagued the cable industry in sri lanka. We do not want any more postponements.

Please keep us updated on any news regarding todays hearing.

LBN response to our email

We sent an email to Mr. Shirantha Herath asking him to about the MoD response regarding LBN and this is the reply we received.

"Shirantha Herath (LBN)" wrote:

The MOD clearance will be given direct to TRC and we have not heard if this has been received by the TRC.

What we understand from this is that the MoD response will remain a mystery until the September 11th Court Hearing.

Please continue to update us on any information regarding LBN. We like to thank Mr. Shirantha Herath for giving information in this manner and keeping their subscribers informed.

MoD response to LBN

There is some confusion regarding the MoD clearance on LBN. Some reports say that LBN has been cleared and some other information states that the clearance has been postponed to Sept 18th.

However the next court hearing of LBN is scheduled for Sept 11th (unforgetable day). We have requested the management of LBN to provide us with this information but as of now we have not got a reply from them. However it is difficult to ascertain whether the decision will be made known before the court hearing.

We would like our readers to keep us updated on the information regarding the MoD response as the days progress.

MoD Decision postponed to today (Sep 4th)

We are receiving unconfirmed reports that the MoD decision on LBN which was to be delivered on Sep 1st has been postponed to today Sep 4th. Today is the day that the CBNsat decision will also be delivered.

We hope that the MoD will give a favourable decision taking into consideration the staff members and the customers of the above companies that have been affected.

We would like our fellow readers to give confirmation on the details of the postponement and also keep us updated on the news of todays decision as well as any other news about LBN.

Defence Ministry response to be given today

Today 1st September 2006 the Defence Ministry is due to give their responce for the LBN application that was forwarded to them by the TRC.

According to sources, if a positive application is received today then the TRC will process the application in one weeks time.

We sincerely hope that the Defence Ministry will issue a positive response taking into consideration the thousands of consumers who are being inconvenienced as a result of the closure of this cable tv provider. We do understand that the MoD has more urgent matters but then this is not a issue that needs to be dragged any longer. After all there is no threat to national security in providing a cable tv service.

We would like our fellow readers to keep us updated on any news of the response provided by the MoD as well as any other news regarding LBN as we enter into the first weekend of the month of September.