Category: Industry
Million Mark
July 28, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Bharti Airtel has exceeded one million customers and the firm is rolling out its network in the east of the island, following the end of a 30-year war in the island, a top official said.“We have exceeded one million customers in Sri Lanka in 171 days of operations,” […]
Sri Lanka in ADB south Asia tourism project
July 28, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has been included in an Asian Development Bank funded project to link and promote tourist sites in south Asian countries, especially for eco-tourism and pilgrimage tourism. A report by the ADB said the project was conceived as a linked series of sub-regional tourism investments in the five countries […]
Bank Numbers
July 28, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Seylan Bank said net profit for the June 2009 quarter fell 39 percent to 188 million rupees from a year ago with both interest income and fee income falling and bad loans rising.The bank, part of the Ceylinco group, said in a stock exchange filing that interest income […]
Chinese Deal
July 28, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank said it has signed an Investment Facilitation Agreement with China Development Bank, considered one of China’s three policy banks that also funds the country’s large infrastructure projects.“Under this agreement, China Development Bank will initially place a US dollar deposit with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, […]
Train Trouble
July 27, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s railway needs to raise fares and train travellers must be prepared to pay more to reduce losses and make the state-owned service viable, experts said.This would ensure enough traffic so the train services could be run profitably, perhaps with private sector investment. The same approach could be followed […]
Capital Education
July 27, 2009 (LBO) – Management and finance students of Jaffna University will get easy access to Colombo Stock Exchange data, market regulator Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said. The qualification starts with a certificate and leads up to a degree. The SEC said the Jaffna University would get a fully equipped capital market information […]
Slow Lane
July 26, 2009 (LBO) – Too many transport ministries and agencies which do not co-ordinate effectively has resulted in poor transport service in Sri Lanka and delayed its aim of becoming a hub, an expert said. There were also high levels of exclusion between different modes – land, water, air – with three ministries involved. […]
Tech Venture
July 25, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Aitken Spence had formed a company to develop hotel sector software, California Software Company Limited (Calsoft), a Bombay listed Indian information technology firm has said. The company will develop software targeting businesses operating in the hospitality industry at first. The joint venture firm named ‘CalSpence’ will have its […]
‘s Sangakkara ton frustrates Pakistan in drawn Test
July 24, 2009 (AFP) – Kumar Sangakkara hit an unbeaten century to steer Sri Lanka to a draw in the final Test against Pakistan here on Friday and win his first series as captain.The left-hander made 130 not out as Sri Lanka, faced with a world record target of 492, defied the Pakistani bowlers to […]
Sri Lanka power output down in May, diesel sales up
July 24, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s electricity generation in May 2009 fell 3.6 percent to 834 million units (GigaWatt hours) from a year earlier, while diesel sales were up 22.2 percent, the latest government data showed.Thermal power generation at state-run Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) tripled to 243 million units from 81GWh a year earlier […]
Northern Link
July 24, 2009 (LBO) – Lanka Bell, a Sri Lankan wireless fixed access telco said it had connected the northern Jaffna peninsular to its network, opening a new base station and an office.“A high quality and purse-easy telecommunication service is an essential need of the people in Jaffna,” Lanka Bell managing director Prasad Samarasinghe said […]
Gamata IT
July 24, 2009 (LBO) – Microsoft Sri Lanka said it had begun a drive to make information technology popular in rural areas, with a local language interface, free software downloads and training. Microsoft and its partner organization would also support trading in Sinhalese and Tamil languages. Training literature would also be made available. A school […]