98-01-07 Professor Takes Telecommunications Post in Sri Lanka

OHIO STATE PROFESSOR TAKES TELECOMMUNICATIONS POST IN SRI LANKA

        Rohan Samarajiva (Sa-ma-ra-JEE-va), associate professor of
communication and public policy and management at The Ohio State
University, will serve for the next 18 months as director general of
telecommunications for the Telecom Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka.

        Samarajiva’s appointment is effective Jan. 1, 1998 through June 30,
1999.  Samarajiva, a Sri Lankan national with permanent resident status in
the United States, is an internationally known scholar in telecommunication
policy.  He will return to the faculty at Ohio State after the assignment. 
        
        Samarajiva has maintained contacts with Sri Lankan government
ministers and telecommunications policy-makers since 1992.  That year, he
conducted research on the telecom liberalization process in Sri Lanka,
assisted by funds from an Ameritech Prize awarded by the Graduate School at
Ohio State.
        
        “I think it was my general expertise in telecom policy plus the
effort I made to connect to people in the field in Sri Lanka that made this
possible,” Samarajiva said about the appointment.  Samarajiva was invited
to take up the appointment by Sri Lanka’s minister of Media, Posts and
Telecom in September 1997.  

        The Telecom Regulatory Commission was established in 1991.  It was
changed from a government department to a commission resembling the U.S.
Federal Communications Commission in February, Samarajiva said.  He will
oversee the transformation of the organization into an independent
regulatory commission as its CEO.  He also is a voting member of the
commission.

        Samarajiva said the major issue facing the telecom industry in Sri
Lanka is managing growth in a competitive environment.  He noted that in
the first seven months of 1997, connections to the country’s network
(wireline, cellular, and wireless local loop) increased by 20 percent.  

        “Interconnection is a major problem,” Samarajiva said.  “We also
have to develop a respect for expertise and fairness-based regulation in an
environment that has traditionally been biased to political influence.
      
        “Independent regulation is a concept that is spreading like
wildfire across the world.  As countries get the private sector to invest
in infrastructure, they see the need for regulation.  Sri Lanka is
considered a leader in the field among those in developing countries,” he
said.

        Samarajiva said he expects his experiences in Sri Lanka to improve
the international profile of the study of telecommunication policy at Ohio
State.  “I teach about most of the things I do here, so this will directly
benefit my teaching,” he said. 

        Samarajiva’s research and teaching interests are in the area of
social implications of information-communication technologies, with
emphasis on emerging interactive technologies.  His research related to his
current assignment deals with relationships between international/domestic
trade and communication policies, and institutional reform of
telecommunication systems.  He has had extensive experience advising and
training state-level and national telecom regulators in the United States,
Canada and Australia.  Samarajiva is president of the Communication
Technology Policy Section of the International Association for Media and
Communication Research and vice-chair and chair-elect of the Communication
and Technology Division of the International Communication Association.
	
        Samarajiva joined Ohio State’s communication faculty in 1987.  He
also was a research specialist in 1991-92 at the National Regulatory
Research Institute based at Ohio State.  In Sri Lanka, he was an assistant
news editor/journalist for the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corp. in 1978-79.  He
also is an attorney-at-law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.

                                                        #

Contact:  Rohan Samarajiva, rohan+@osu.edu (active account)
                Emily Caldwell, University Communications, (614) 292-8309


[Submitted by: Emily Caldwell  (caldwell.151@osu.edu)
               
Wed, 07 Jan 1998 15:51:56 -0500]
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