Category: Industry
Short Leash
Feb. 28 (LBO) – Swedish owned telecom operator Suntel, plans to tap local banks this year to raise US$80 million, despite a government directive to slap import duties on handsets with immediate effect, a top official said Tuesday. The private wireless local loop operator (WLL) has seen its subscriber growth soar to 188,000 customers after […]
Line Extension
Feb 28. (LBO) — Sri Lanka’s cellular service pioneer Celltel picked up a ten year license extension to 2018, a company statement said on Tuesday. The Millicom International Cellular S.A subsidiary paid approximately US$ 5 million for the ten year extension, the statement said. The license extension is also tied to a spectrum swap, where […]
E-mail Service
Feb 28. (LBO) — Sri Lanka™s state run Postal Department is scouting for Rs.25 million in private investment to launch a dedicated business mail service The planned business mail service will allow commercial establishments to purchase postage over the internet and use digital encoding or barcodes instead of stamps and even addresses on their mail. […]
Looking Abroad
Feb. 28 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Sanasa Development Bank is looking for foreign money to bring its capital up to the new Central Bank core capital requirements. Corrected: accounting period -LBO Newsdesk: LBOEmail@ General Manager T A Gajaba says they are hoping to raise around Rs700 million from a consortium of foreign investors. Sanasa, a […]
Piggy Bank
Feb. 28 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is set to launch a new development bank in April to promote future reconstruction and development work, a top official said Tuesday. Known as the ‘Lanka Putra’, the government-owned specialised bank plans to raise deposits locally and overseas to fund small and medium scale entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka. “The […]
The Sri Lankan government has begun work on new tourism zones
Feb 27 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government has begun work on new tourism zones, acquiring land for development so that it can be rolled out for investors by May this year. The first few zones will come up in Hambantota, Kalpitiya, Arugam Bay in the East and Trincomalee and will be dedicated areas for […]
Red Flag
The woes the Indian state oil giant IOC’s Sri Lankan unit continues, as the firm took an unprecedented hit on its accounts to provision off a disputed subsidy due from the government. Lanka IOC’s profits for the 9-months ended December 2005 slipped deep into red after the company made a provision of Rs. 7 billion […]
Higher Rent
Sri Lanka’s housing finance giant HDFC Bank reported a sharp drop in profits and profitability for the last quarter of 2005, on higher staff and interest costs and the state levied VAT payments. Value Added Tax (VAT) payments jumped to Rs. 23 million in the quarter to December 2005, up from Rs. 7.5 million in […]
Setting Sail
Feb. 24 (LBO) – State-run shipping carrier is floating its own service to tap the feeder business in the Indian subcontinent and plans to tap commercial banks to buy a tanker later this year, top official said Monday. Initially, Ceylon Shipping Corporation (CSC), will charter two vessels each having capacity to carry 1,000 TEU’s (twenty […]
Mobile Growth
Feb 23 (LBO) – Dialog Telekom, a unit of Telekom Malaysia Bhd said Thursday it is splurging US$150 million to expand its network by over 50 percent this year. Part of the funds will be channelled to a proposed 3G (third generation) network, build a fibre optic infrastructure and offer broadband services to customers. œWe […]
Ice Breaker
Feb 23 (LBO) – The Commercial High Court on Thursday rapped NDB Bank’s top brass over allegations of mismanagement, asking for cause as to why they should not be removed. -LBO Newsdesk: LBOEmail@ The court order asks the Chairman and Board of Directors of National Development Bank (NDB) to show cause as to why they […]
Rural Cover
Jan 23 (LBO) – The Asian Development Bank will help take insurance products to poor households in Sri Lanka, through a US$ 600,000 technical assistance grant, the Bank said on Thursday. There are currently no formal insurance schemes serving poor households. They often resort to informal borrowings, savings or sale of assets to cushion against […]