Sri Lanka Telecom is minting foreign exchange revenue, due to a heavy flow of international voice and data calls to pick up the latest news since the tsunami struck on Boxing Day. Sri Lanka Telecom is minting foreign exchange revenue, due to a heavy flow of international voice and data calls to pick up the latest news since the tsunami struck on Boxing Day. “Since the tsunami, SLT’s traffic volumes have significantly increased, specially in the areas of international traffic,” the dominant operator said Fri,. without disclosing the quantum leap in its international inpayment traffic.
Giant tidal waves recording 9.0 on the richter scale, knocked off under two percent of SLT’s services along the Southern and Eastern costal belt.
President’s Senior Advisor Mano Tittawella estimates the country will pick up a US$ 1.5 bn reconstruction bill this year, but SLT says it escaped lightly due to lower telecom penetration.
The tsunami fiasco left SLT with a Rs. 750 mn bill, its Chairman Anil Obeysekera said, but the telco has only Rs. 96 mn as insurance reserves to cover costs.
But the telco giant is cash rich, and the insurance shortfall can be easily met, its Head of Inve