Category: Industry
Joint Deal
Mar. 03 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Hemas Holdings said Friday it added local courier firm ACX International pte Ltd, to their growing portfolio of business. ACX, Sri Lanka’s pioneering courier operation commands around four percent of the island’s annual 1,000-metric tonne or million kilos courier market. “We roughly estimate the market is worth about two […]
Off Duty
Mar02. (LBO) — Sri Lanka’s second wireless local loop operator says it has lobbied the authorities to scrap a tax on CDMA handset imports.“We have written to the Board on Investment and the regulator.We are expecting a positive response soon,” Lanka Bell Managing Director Suren Goonawardene told LBO. The government last week wrote to the […]
Tourists flock to Sri Lanka in Jan
Mar. 02 (LBO) — Sri Lanka’s tsunami-hit hospitality industry made a comeback in January, as holidaymakers flocked to the island. However, internal battles to revamp marketing efforts and restructure the industry remain. Arrivals to Sri Lanka, famed for its beaches and eco-tourism, in January this year were up 36.8 percent over 2005 to 52,231 travellers. […]
Island Call
Mar. 01 (LBO) — Fixed line giant Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) will add the Maldivian incumbent telco operator to its list of regional clients, commissioning an undersea cable by late 2006. Tenders for the 10 gigabit undersea cable project are now being evaluated, SLT Deputy Chief Operating Office C B R Perera told LBO on […]
Big Bills
Mar. 01 (LBO) — Swedish telco operator Telia AB’s Sri Lankan subsidiary on Wednesday reported a 66 percent drop in six months to December profits, on higher CDMA related administrative, distribution and depreciation costs. The private wireless local loop operator (WLL) has seen its subscriber growth soar to 188,000 customers after securing a license to […]
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 […]