Telecoms drive investment boom

COLOMBO: Dialog Telekom, the Sri Lankan unit of Telekom Malaysia, said yesterday it was raising 150 million dollars to expand its cellular network. Sri Lanka's booming telecom sector is expected to bring in some of the island's biggest investments this year.

Dialog, Sri Lanka's biggest cellular phone operator, will raise the money on the Colombo Stock Exchange by issuing rights and preference shares to ordinary shareholders, Chief Executive Hans Wijayasuriya said.

"The funds are part of our three-year plan to spend about 300 to 400 million dollars to expand our operations here," Wijayasuriya told AFP. The Board of Investment has said it is hoping to attract around a billion dollars this year, of which around 30 per cent will come from telecom and IT-related services.

Sri Lanka attracted 600 million dollars worth of foreign investment last year, of which about 350 million dollars came from the telecom sector.

With over three million subscribers, Dialog controls 60 percent of Sri Lanka's cellular market.

Dialog also offers international voice and data services, Internet and satellite television. It plans to offer fixed line telephone services in the coming months.