Oct 25, 2011 (LBO) – HSBC in Sri Lanka, which has channelled about two billion dollars to infrastructure building in the island, sees more potential in the telecom sector, an official said. The mobile telecom sector is moving from the mainly narrow band GSM technology to broadband third generation (3G), Nick A Nicolaou, chief executive officer of HSBC for Sri Lanka said.
“There was a strong demand from telecom companies as they expanded, with the move over from fixed line to GSM and now to 3G,” he said.
“Sri Lanka’s telecom penetration is now in par with most countries in Asia. We see further growth for the Telcos as they move in to broadband.”
Telecom firms have also been expanding into former war-torn areas.
HSBC has helped bring over two billion dollars in the last three years to build infrastructure such as roads, bridges, power, water supply, fishery harbours and Telecom network expansion, working with export credit agencies (ECAs) of several countries.
“For example in the case of the 300Mw Kerawalapitiya Power Plant, we arranged finance from several countries, such as UK, France, and USA matching it to the country where the machinery was imported from