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| Sunday, 23 April 2006 |
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SLT group revenue grows 10% to Rs. 32.5 billion Sri Lanka's telecommunications industry is one of the most advanced in the region, Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT's) CEO Shuhei Anan said in its annual report. Three operators now have CDMA technology, adding to penetrative capacity. Four mobile operators have GSM taking the industry to the next level, while SLT has a stout and widespread infrastructure. SLT's group revenue grew by 10 percent to reach Rs 32.5 billion ($35 million) during 2005, chairman Anil Obeyesekera has informed shareholders. Of this revenue 66 percent came from local telephone services, 24 percent from international telephone services and 9 percent from data and other services. Operating profits increased by 26 percent, pretax profits were Rs 4.8 million and post tax profits were Rs 3.1 billion. These are the highest figures achieved by the company since privatisation 10 years ago, chairman Obeysekera said. SLT had targeted 60,000 new connections in 2005, but there were 100,000 new connections by the year-end. SLT continues to hold 82 percent of the market share in fixed line operations and 65 percent of the market in data services. SLT's subsidiary, Mobitel, installed its 300th GSM station at end-2005 had 420,062 customers or 19 percent of the mobile market. SLT's target was to increase subscriber capacity to another 150,000 by end-2006 and has commenced installing base transmitting stations throughout the country. SLT hopes to invest Rs 1.5 billion in the first base of the CDMA expansion plant, Anan said. SLT has to compete in the market without the advantage of tax concessions enjoyed by other competitors and are forced to provide CDMA phones at higher prices since the duty concession is not available to them. They keep requesting the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) to provide a level playing field, to enable them to offer its rural customers a more cost effective solution. The directors have recommended a first and final dividend of 7.5 percent. The AGM will be held on Thursday, April 27 at 3.00 p.m. at the BMICH. (EL) |
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