Dialog posts Rs. 4.10 b net profit
Dialog Telekom Ltd, Sri Lanka's leading mobile telecommunications
operator recorded a net profit of Rs 4.10 billion for the year ended
December 2004, key stakeholders of the country's financial sector were told
last week.
Dialog has made an application to the Colombo Stock Exchange for a public
listing.
Dialog made its first profit in 1998. For the financial year ended
December 2003 and 2004 the company recorded revenues of Rs 7.5 billion and
Rs 11.4 billion and net profits after tax of Rs 2.8 billion and Rs 4.1
billion. From 2000 to 2004 Dialog's revenue and net profit have increased at
Compounded Annual Growth Rates (CAGRs) of 50% and 66% Dialog directors said.
The company is a BOI approved entity with a 15-year tax holiday to expire
end 2012. Formerly known as MTN Networks (Pvt) Ltd, Dialog is a fully owned
subsidiary of Telekom Malaysia Bhd, and operates Dialog GSM, the country's
leading GSM Cellular network supporting over 1.5 million subscribers as at
end March 2005, accounting for 60% of the country's cellular market.
Sri Lanka's mobile telecommunications industry is expanding rapidly. Over
the five-year period 2000 to 2004 Sri Lanka's mobile telecommunications
subscribers grew at a CAGR of over 50% from 430,202 subscribers in 2000 to
2,211,158 subscribers by 2004. In 2004 the mobile sector grew by 59%.
The company commenc-ed operations in 1995. Despite being the last entrant
to Sri Lanka's mobile sector, Dialog was able to earn profits by 1998.
Its customer base grew rapidly and in 2002 Dialog had the largest market
share in the mobile sector.
Today the company has evolved to be the undisputed leader in the Sri
Lankan mobile telecommunications industry with a 60% market share as of
December 2004. Its subscriber base increased from 122,617 in 2000 to
1,358,640 in 2004 representing a CAGR of 82% significantly outperforming
market growth.
Dialog provides domestic and international mobile telecommunications and
internet services to its 1.5 million customer base as at end March 2005.
The dialog GSM network provides the widest mobile coverage in Sri Lanka,
across all nine provinces of the country through a GSM infrastructure
consisting of over 500 base stations. Dialog's Roaming Network spans over
190 countries across all continents.
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