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Lanka Bell has achieved excellent results in the fiscal year 2002/2003 with a 43% increase in gross revenue and a 46% increase in net revenue compared to the previous year. The gross revenue represents an over-achievement of 13% while the net revenue represents a 15% over-achievement from the targeted values for the year.

In addition to an impressive growth in revenue, Lanka Bell's Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) achieved a 69 per cent increase from the previous fiscal year. This represents an over-achievement of 46 per cent from this year's targeted value.

Lanka Bell performed well in the business sector with a 59 per cent increase in revenue from the previous year, which represents a 17 per cent over-achievement from this year's targeted value. A 180 per cent growth in business lines bears ample testimony to Lanka Bell's success in the business sector. Revenues from other sources such as leased data lines, prepaid card services, mini Bell centres and BellNet Internet services increased by 76 per cent from the previous fiscal year.

This represents a 57 per cent over-achievement from this year's targeted value. After launching the BellNet ISP service last September with over 100 hours free surfing and no monthly rental, Lanka Bell has signed up over 3,000 subscribers. A 24-hour Call Centre provides round the clock assistance to BellNet subscribers.

"This year's outstanding performance, despite external challenges from the Government and competitors, has proved the capability of Lanka Bell's employees and their unwavering commitment to achieving company goals," said Suren Goonewardene, General Manager, Finance.

"Other major contributing factors include our Balanced Scorecard performance measurement system, ongoing staff training and good financial management. We were the first to introduce Oracle Financials version 10.7 and the first to upgrade to version 11.1." Another major reason for this achievement is the re-organisation of Lanka Bell's customer service, marketing, and sales functions. "We have clearly focused our resources on key market segments and core businesses," said Sujeewa Karunasekera, General Manager, Customer Services Division.

Lanka Bell's clear leadership in the latest Quality of Service Indicators published by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission is the result of a series of measures taken to improve service levels. These include increasing the Points of Interconnection (POIs) with Sri Lanka Telecom, decentralisation of maintenance staff, proactive fault detection via sophisticated alarm systems, and increased trunk route capacity to handle rapidly increasing traffic volumes. "We are very pleased to see that our ongoing efforts to continuously improve our service levels have made us the leader in quality of service within a short time," said Nalaka Peiris, Lanka Bell's General Manager of Technical Operations. "The planned addition of more POIs will progressively improve our inter-network Call Completion Ratio even further in the coming months," he said.

Lanka Bell has introduced new payment methods to customers. These include direct debits, an Internet payment gateway and a new tri-lingual bill with a simple format that is very easy to understand.

The completion of an innovative debt-restructuring program started by Lanka Bell in October 2002 has now reduced its debts to zero.

Lanka Bell's total outstanding debts were waved off, inclusive of accrued interests and related exchange loss provisions. This restructuring has made Lanka Bell the only debt-free telecommunications operator in the local market. "Since we don't need to allocate large sums of money for interest payments, we can now invest heavily in upgrading the quality and reach of our network and the operation aspects of our business.

This gives us the capability to increase our network footprint in the near term. Likewise, we are setting up low-cost cyber-cafes even in places such as Batticaloa by opening MiniBell Centres at Sathosa outlets. This reflects Lanka Bell's pioneering efforts to bring affordable Internet access to the masses and thereby support the Government's e-Lanka initiative," said Joey V. Mendoza, Managing Director and CEO of Lanka Bell. Lanka Bell is a BOI-approved company backed by several global giants.

48 per cent of Lanka Bell is owned by Transasia Telecom (Singapore), 18 per cent by Miel Investments (holding company of Transmarco, Singapore), 21 per cent by AIDEC (Japan) and 7 per cent by Nortel Networks (North America). Through an initial investment of US$ 150 million, Lanka Bell set up a state-of-the-art digital network, which was the first of its kind in this part of the world.

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