Category: Industry
Goodbye
The government has announced a massive voluntary retirement package to its employees in more than 50 institutions already identified for closure, merger or restructuring.The institutions themselves will have to find the required funding to pay off those that are willing to take up early retirement.rn rnA Treasury circular says that identified government institutions can offer […]
Minor Tremor
A minority stake in Sri Lanka Telecom is unlikely to make it to the market this year, as authorities feel the time is not ripe.The telecom giant has also offered a voluntary retirement scheme to shed excess staff, as part of an overall restructuring exercise.rn rnThe government had earlier told the IMF they were planning […]
Come Clean
Depositors have asked for the updated financial status of Pramuka Bank to make a detailed restructuring proposal to Central Bank.ldblquote We need to clean up the balance sheet and find the exact situation to deal with it, dblquote says K C Vignarajah who was brought in by the depositors as an independent figurehead to represent […]
Foreign Deposit
Commercial Bank will seek regulatory approval to acquire Credit Agricole Indosuezs (CIA) Bangladesh operations. The acquisition will give Commercial Bank its first overseas outpost and falls in line with plans to expand operations into the South Asian region.rn rnldblquote The Commercial Banks intended acquisition of CAI Bangladesh is part of the banks stated goal of […]
Pay Me
Telco firms will soon introduce charges to terminate calls on each others networks, a fee expected to cover infrastructure costs. Only Sri Lanka Telecom presently, charges a termination fee from mobile operators under the present system. rn rnBetween other operators, its is agreed that the network sending the call, keeps the revenue to cancel off […]
Big League
Indian telco giant, Videsh Sanchara Nigam Limited (VSNL) will transfer part of its international bandwidth on the SEA ME WE III (three) submarine cable to its Sri Lankan offshoot. The cable capacity will be in addition to a satellite earth station that will be set up to provide overseas call services.rn rnVSNL will initially run […]
Renewing Ties
Sri Lanka Telecom will restore the microwave radio link that once connected the island to neighbouring India. Operational in the 80s, the link was a key like which helped carry a significant portion of the voice traffic between the two countries.rn rnA Memorandum of Understanding signed with Indian telco giant Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) […]
Choppy Ride
The Central Bank on Monday named financial institutions that are not registered with the bank, but continue to raise funds from the public.The 31 companies named, raise funds not by deposits, but by other means like debentures, commercial paper and promissory notes.rn rnThe notice comes after the Central Bank named 27 companies in January for […]
Home Zone
Localising its online service, Emirates on Monday announced the launch of its website for Sri Lanka – www.The local extension will provide online visitors with special promotions and information tied to Sri Lanka along with the regularly featured facilities like booking services and flight schedules. rn rn”This is an exciting development for Emirates in Sri […]
Mop Up
Central Bank sold Rs. 1 billion of its Treasury Bill in the secondary market on Wednesday to mop up excess liquidity in the banking system.The Central Bank says around Rs.11 billion is in excess of which players say about Rs. 5 billion is permanently in excess.rn rnOf late money market players have parked about the […]
Joining Order
A fresh set of rules to govern telecom firm mergers is being floated within the industry for comment by August 6.The draft outlines how the telecom watchdog should respond to merger situation and how the merged operators should behave.rn rnInformation and infrastructure sharing, cross subsidisation and other practices that give the firs and unfair advantage […]
Asian Edition
Sri Lanka will play host to the first annual IT knowledge dissemination conference endash Networking South Asia later in July.Chairman of the Organising Committee, Dr.Gihan Dias says the conference aims to build links with regional Internet and allied service providers and to push through the latest thinking in the industry. rn rnIndustry sources say the […]