Published on: Saturday, August 30, 2003 |
Kuala Lumpur: Sri Lankas mobile phone business is poised to take off and a Telekom Malaysia subsidiary, MTN Networks, is set to cash in on it.
Telekom Malaysia and the Maharajah Group, one of Sri Lankas largest conglomerates, formed MTN Networks as a joint-venture in 1994 with a capital of US$17 million (RM64.6 million).
But after a series of cash injections, Telekom Malaysia became the sole shareholder in 1996 and has now invested more than US$120 million (RM456 million) in the company.
From being the fourth and newest mobile phone service provider with its Dialog GSM service, the company became the biggest in 2000 and now claims over 60 per cent share of the market.
The turnover more than doubled each year.
Director and chief executive, Dr Hans Wijayasuriya, said Telekom Malaysias patience during the hard times, localisation of management and technological innovation helped the company to move ahead.
Telekom Malaysia is successful example of a foreign investor in Sri Lanka. It has shown other investors that persistence and a long-term outlook will pay off, he said.
When MTN Networks started its GSM service, the other providers were still on analogue.
Wijayasuriya said it took a few years to build up the digital network but once that was done, GSM began to dominate the market.
The company won local and international awards for its innovative services, including an SMS emergency alert service for the hearing- and speech-impaired, Braille billing for the visually-impaired and a blood donation campaign in response to subscribers requests during a dengue epidemic.
MTN Networks is the first telecommunications company in South Asia to gain ISO certification and also one of the first in Asia to introduce mobile internet services - even before Malaysia.
Sri Lanka has about one million mobile phone users.-Bernama
