Maxis may team up with Usaha Tegas in Sri Lanka

KUALA LUMPUR: Maxis Communications may join hands with parent Usaha Tegas Sdn Bhd to venture into Sri Lanka.

The company had “intention to consider” investing in Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) since Usaha Tegas “is a party close to us,” chief executive officer Jamaludin Ibrahim said.

However, he reiterated that Maxis had yet to receive details on the stake acquisition in SLT by Usaha Tegas.

“We have not yet discussed (the matter) with Usaha Tegas,” he said at the sideline of Invest Malaysia conference yesterday.

SLT yesterday announced to the Colombo Stock Exchange that its board had consented to a due diligence exercise sought by Global Telecommunications Ltd, a subsidiary of Usaha Tegas.

SLT said Global Telecommunications was in discussion with NTT to buy all or part of its 35% stake in SLT.

Maxis, which already had a presence in Indonesia and India, was interested in the entire Asia-Pacific market, said Jamaludin.

It made sense for Maxis to consider a stake in SLT as the latter owned a mobile service business and Sri Lanka was near to India, he said.

Maxis holds a 74% stake in Aircel Ltd, a leading mobile operator in India.

Its first overseas foray was to Indonesia. On its Indonesian operations, Jamaludin said Maxis had reviewed the investment plan.

Maxis is seeking a new partner for Indonesian unit PT Natrindo Telepon Selular in a move to revive its operations.

Natrindo incurred a loss of RM21mil in the fourth quarter.

Commenting on the provision of WiMax service, Jamaludin said he believed Maxis had the competitive edge over its rivals.

“We have ample infrastructure to leverage on, ranging from sites, switches, fibre optic network to the whole product development process,” Jamuludin said.

The Star