Category: Industry
Bigger Say
October 25, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s conglomerate John Keells Holdings Ltd Wednesday said it has raised its ownership in port operator South Asia Gateway Terminals (Pvt) Ltd to 33.75 percent. “The success of SAGT further proves the ability of Sri Lankan companies to develop and add value to large scale infrastructure projects,” Ratnayake added. […]
Child™s Play
October 23, 2006 (LBO) – The Ceylinco Consolidated Group™s 3-billion rupee state-of-the-art women and children hospital is due to open in March 2008. The privately owned Golden Key Hospital for Women and Children, aims to offer pediatric, maternity and gynecological services. Built on a land in Narahenpita, the 200 bed hospital hopes to be fully […]
Jumbo Sizes
Oct 23, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is to expand and re-surface its runway to handle jumbo sized A380 airbus aircraft, capitalising on delays that have pushed back release of the new super-sized planes to 2009. Part of Emirates plans also includes new aircraft possibly 777-300s or A340s for Sri Lankan Airlines, though beefing up […]
‘s Murali, Mahela in ICC award shortlist
MUMBAI, Oct 22 (AFP) – Pakistani paceman Mohammad Asif has been shortlisted for an ICC award despite testing positive for a banned substance, it was announced here on Sunday. “Asif is eligible for the award as the period under consideration was before the doping offence,” said Malcolm Speed, chief executive of the International Cricket Council […]
Happy Texting
SINGAPORE, Oct 22, 2006 (AFP) – Text messaging remains the most dominant mode of mobile data communication, as high costs and cumbersome procedures keep customers from fully embracing fancier applications, industry players say.As revenue from voice service narrows, mobile operators are hard pressed to find a key new application that will continue generating cash like […]
Holidaymakers sanguine but hoteliers worry after attack in Southern Sri Lanka
GALLE, Sri Lanka, Oct 22(AFP) – Holidaymakers on the beaches around Sri Lanka’s southern port of Galle seemed unconcerned about last week’s Tamil Tiger suicide attack here, but industry professionals are shaking their heads.The three decades of ethnic bloodshed in the island nation have claimed more than 60,000 lives. One day after five Tiger rebel […]
Sri Lanka lowers tourist arrival targets, as Australia issues tough travel warning
Oct 20, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka may still cross the half a million tourist arrival mark this year though falling short of targets, even as Australia issued a tough warning on Friday not to travel to the troubled island. Fighting between Sri Lanka government and Tamil rebels have escalated in recent months, with some […]
Best Deals
Oct 20, 2006 (LBO) – SriLankan Airlines says it will consider lowering fuel surcharges on tickets in January if oil prices continue to fall, while it also expands further into Indian metropolitan cities this winter. The airline is currently buying jet fuel at 1.92 dollars a gallon, down from the highs of 2.28 dollars a […]
GrameenPhone
DHAKA, Oct 19, 2006 (AFP) – Bangladesh’s top mobile phone company, GrameenPhone, is mulling whether to list itself on the stock market, a report said Thursday.GrameenPhone (GP), majority owned by Norwegian telecom company Telenor, is Bangladesh’s biggest mobile phone company with over 9.5 million subscribers. “We are in the process of analysing the option of […]
Tourism campaign in India boosts Indian visits to the island
Oct 19, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has seen a 22 percent jump in Indian visitors during a six months promotional campaign across top metro cities India, a local industry group said Thursday. The Sri Lanka – Small Island, Big Trip campaign ran from March to August this year across Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore […]
Speedy transfers
October 19, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s People’s Bank, has tied up with global money transfer giant Western Union, to enable their customers to remit funds to their families here. “This is a 240-250 billion dollar market and we have around 16 percent of market share in this field,” Kapur said. Over a million Sri […]
Citizendium
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 17, 2006 (AFP) – A co-founder of the Wikipedia online encyclopedia written in collaborative fashion by the Internet community announced Tuesday he is launching a rival service edited by experts.A test version of “Citizendium” to be launched this week in Harmon, California will use experienced editors and subject authorities to tune information […]