TRC of Sri Lanka to Allow Spectrum sharing & Domestic Roaming for Lower Broadband Tariffs

28th March 2013, www.lankabusinessonline.com

Sri Lanka is allowing spectrum sharing and domestic roaming to promote shared resources and cut costs so that broadband tariffs can be kept low, the telecom regulator said.

"We are allowing spectrum sharing," director general of the telecommunications regulatory commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) Anusha Pelpita said.

"We will not regulate their tariffs but they will have to apply to us. This will help keep costs down and subscribers will get lower tariffs."

Domestic roaming has already been recently permitted and Airtel and Etisalat have started to allow customers to roam on each others' network, he said.

Dialog on Thursday paid 3.2 billion rupees for a 10MegaHertz paired frequencies block in the 1800MHz band paying 2.0 billion rupees higher than the next bidder, in an auction which had a floor price of 3.2 billion rupees.

Pelpita said the frequencies are expected to be used in the rollout of fourth generation LTE (long term evolution) high speed mobile broadband services.

The 1800 spectrum was allocated for GSM (2G) services by the International Telecommunications Unions, but can be used for 4G.

The 75MHz of paired bandwidth in the frequency band (or 150MHz in the band which runs from 1700 through 1800 MHz has now been allocated to operators.

Dialog Already had a 15MHz block, Mobitel had 20, Etisalat, Hutch and Airtel each had 7.5MHz each and another 7.5MHz allocated to a firm which did not have a network was in court.

Except for the 7.5MHz which was in dispute the entire band has now been allocated to operators, he said.

"Spectrum sharing will allow more efficient use of the resource," Pelpita said.

Operators can set their own prices, but those planning to share spectrum must first apply to the Telecom Regulatory Commission, he said.

In Sri Lanka the 900MHz band, which is used for mobile broadband elsewhere is occupied by television broadcasters, but the band may become free after digital broadcasting starts Pelpita said.

Unlike other countries which raised billions of dollars Sri Lanka has a policy of keeping frequency fees relatively low.

Pelpita said he wanted to promote broadband use and in Sri Lanka fixed broadband penetration was low, though mobile was picking up.

"We have allowed frequency sharing because that will also keep costs down, so that retail tariffs will be more affordable," he said.

"Domestic roaming will also reduce costs as operators can save on network expenditure."

Sri Lanka Telecom, which had been licensed to build the national telecom backbone, has to allow other operators to use the pipes on regulated tariffs.

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Online Ticketing System at Sri Lanka’s First Expressway for Real Time Transactions at All Entry & Extt Points. Dialog Axiata Partners with Access Telecommunications Services for the System Implementaion

23rs February 2012, www.lankabusinessonline.com

Dialog Axiata has provided an on-line system for Sri Lanka’s first expressway enabling real time ticket transactions at all entry and exit points and traffic and revenue monitoring.

Its subsidiary, Dialog Enterprise partnered with Access Telecommunications Services which provided the required application platform and all Point of Sales machines for the southern expressway which was opened in November 2011.

A statement said the system was provided to the Road Development Authority (RDA) which operates the 95-kilometre expressway linking the capital Colombo with the southern port town of Galle.

In the system all Point of Sales machines are interconnected to the central server system hosted at the Dialog data centre.

"The solution provided by Dialog Enterprise would allow officials at RDA to get real time updates on information such as number of vehicles entered, revenue generated from each exit points and the registration numbers of vehicles that

have entered or exited the expressway."

Dialog Enterprise also provides mobile and data communication facilities for all the operational staff of the southern expressway, it said.

Dialog also provides a web hosting solution for the highway enabling the public to access information online.

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Sri Lanka Introduces Bus Ticket Booking Via Mobiles

21st June 2011, www.dailynews.lk

The National Transport Commission together with Dialog Axiata present the future of public transportation services in Sri Lanka with the introduction of the Mobile Bus Ticketing facility, allowing passengers to pre-book and purchase tickets through the mobile phone.

This innovative new service is implemented under the purview of the National Transport Commission, and seats could be reserved through this system on private transport buses plying identified long-haul routes. Colombo - Badulla, Colombo - Ampara and Colombo - Kataragama are the routes available with this service at the outset, and this would be extended to other long distance routes islandwide in the nearterm.

"The use of technology to enhance the passenger transport experience is a significant step in our national development drive as espoused in the Mahinda Chinthana. This effort will increase passenger convenience, and I'm pleased to have given lead to a programme of this manner.

There will no doubt be numerous challenges, but the National Transport Commission together with Dialog will be able to overcome these," Private Transport Minister C B Rathnayake," stated.

Speaking at the launch ceremony, Dialog Axiata Group Chief Executive, Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, said: "Dialog strives constantly to empower every aspect of Sri Lankan life, and we acknowledge the commitment and encouragement received by the

minister and his staff to make the convergence of technology into the transportation sectors a reality."

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Central Bank Poverty Alleviation Microfinance Project Partners with Dialog Tradenet

16th May 2011, www.dailynews.lk

Beneficiaries under the Central Bank's Poverty Alleviation Microfinance Project II (Prabodini) will partner with Tradenet service of Dialog Axiata, giving them access to latest market pricing information from the Dedicated Economic Centres and market linkage with producers and service providers.

This will in turn enable them to find a stable and sustainable market, and obtain reasonable price for their produce.

Small and medium scale entrepreneurs can use Tradenet to link up with markets and receive instant information through the internet and mobile, and promote their produce. This service can be easily accessible in all three languages (Sinhala, Tamil and English) by dialing 977 through any mobile phone with a Dialog connection. Through the Central Bank's partnership with Tradenet, beneficiaries under the Prabodini scheme will employ the Tradenet platform to market their produce.

The Prabodini programme is operational through a special loan fund granted under a loan agreement signed between the Sri Lanka government and the Japan International Cooperation Agency, and refinance facility provided to participating financial institutions in 14 Districts covering the Northern and the Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka.

The objective of this programme is to enhance the livelihoods of the poorest of the poor and to enhance their income levels. In this context, facilitation will also be arranged to develop skills and to support increasing the income levels of beneficiaries. As at present there are almost 62,470 beneficiaries registered under the Prabodini scheme, and they are presently into agriculture, livestock, fisheries and other small and medium scale industries. It is also encouraging to note that approximately 30,050 beneficiaries have been granted loans through the participating financial institutions totaling to Rs. 1,179 million as at date.

Poverty Alleviation Microfinance Project II (Prabodini) is operational in the Districts of Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Mannar, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Ampara, Puttalam, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Baddulla, Monaragala and Ratnapura. The beneficiaries in these areas can now sell their products and services to a buyer in any part of the country through the tradenet free of charge.

Dialog Axiata will also arrange mobile units at special rates for the Prabodini beneficiaries and plans are also underway to design special pre-paid mobile usage cards for Prabodini beneficiaries as well.

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Sri Lanka Dialog Makes Rs1.2bn Net Profit in March 2011 Quarter with Subscriber Growth

12th May 2011, www.lankabusinessonline.com

Sri Lankan mobile phone operator Dialog Axiata group said March 2011 net profit rose 64 percent to 1.2 billion rupees from a year ago with subscribers growing and lower losses from TV and broadband units.

The profit was slightly lower than the 1.3 billion rupee net profit made in the December 2010 quarter.

Dialog said in a stock exchange filing group sales for the March 2011 quarter rose 10 percent to 10.9 billion rupees from the previous year.

Basic earnings per share for the quarter rose to 14 cents from eight cents.

Dialog Axiata's cellular business operating profit fell to 869 million rupees from 1.4 billion rupees the previous year.

The group's television business reduced operating losses to 28 million rupees from 126 million rupees while its fixed telecommunication service loss fell to 204 million rupees from 294 million rupees.

The group's telecommunication infrastructure operations mad a 101 million rupees operating profit during the March 2011 quarter compared with a loss of 76 million rupees the year before.

Operating profit from the group's international operations rose to 386 million rupees from 49 million rupees.

"Group profitability was founded on a healthy momentum in EBITDA growth of seven percent, founded on the positive outcomes of strategic cost rescaling in combine with revenue gains," a company statement said.

"Judicious balance sheet restructuring initiatives featuring the achievement of a lower cost debt profile has underpinned the translation of EBITDA performance to commensurate growth in net profit at group, company and subsidiary levels."

Dialog said growth in mobile revenues was driven by a "healthy growth" in mobile subscribers to more than 07 million in the March 2011 quarter and the "increased adoption of mobile broadband services."

Company revenues were further bolstered through interconnection revenues of 0.4 billion rupees accruing since the implementation of the interconnection regime in June 2010.

However, Dialog said that notwithstanding a 10 percent growth in revenues, EBITDA at company level contracted by two percent to 3.3 billion rupees in the March 2011 quarter from a year ago.

"The company’s operating costs (excluding depreciation) grew by 17 percent compared to the first quarter of 2010," the statement said.

"International origination costs and domestic interconnection charges grew in tandem with the growth in corresponding revenue lines and formed a significant contributor (65 percent) to year-on-year cost expansion."

Dialog's network costs increased by 18 percent in tandem with the "aggressive expansion" of the company’s network infrastructure footprint and price hikes with respect to key inputs including electricity and fuel, the statement said.

The performance of the Dialog Television and Dialog Broadband Networks units continues to improve, the company said.

DTV revenue rose 15 percent to 561 million rupees in the March 2011 quarter from a year ago with its pay television business adding 13,000 new customers to reach a subscriber base of over 181,000 as at 31 March 2011.

"DBN continued to consolidate the performance trends of the previous quarters to record its fourth successive quarter of positive EBITDA in Q1 2011," the statement said.

"EBITDA turnaround at DBN was underpinned by substantial reductions in operating and direct costs accruing from cost rescaling programmes implemented over the past quarters."

DBN remained in the red in the wake of accelerated depreciation of its CDMA and WiMAX networks.

"The group continued to record positive Free Cash Flows (FCF) for the fifth consecutive quarter, with Q1 2011 FCF being recorded at 1.1 billion rupees," the Dialog statement said.

Dialog also said recently launched its 4th Generation LTE pilot network in Colombo to prepare its network capability for the next generation in high speed broadband services.

"The pilot network will initially cover several key zones within the city and is billed to be the first exposition of a 4th Generation LTE network in the South Asian region.

"The pilot network has demonstrated the delivery of over 100 Mbps in indoor demonstration mode and 40–50Mbps under outdoor mobile conditions."

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Sri Lankan Telcos Deliver Faster Broadband. SLT & Dialog Launch 4G as Etisalat Introduces 3.75G

08th May 2011, www.island.lk

Earlier it was a price war, but now mobile telecommunication companies are racing to deliver faster broadband speeds.

Just one day after Etisalat launched its 3.75 generation broadband network, Sri Lanka Telecom PLC’s (SLT) Mobitel and Dialog Axiata PLC (Dial) announced that they had conducted successful trials on fourth generation (4G) LTE networks, breaking broadband speed records for the first time in South Asia, they both claimed.

Both SLT and Dial both announced last Friday that they had carried out successful trials in 4G technology, which means Etisalat’s 3.75G network would be slightly behind.

While Etisalat is promising speeds up to 21mbps with a capacity to reach 42mbps through its 3.75G network, SLT says its 4G network could deliver up to 96mbps in downlink and 49mbps in uplink using LTE technology.

"Having launched the first Super-3.5G HSPA network in South Asia in December 2007, and subsequently carried out a trial of HSPA+, MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) with downlink speeds of up to 28mbps in 2009, another first in the region, Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel has broken the speed barrier even further to demonstrate broadband speeds of up to 96mbps in downlink and 49mbps in uplink using LTE technology, and setting another record in the region for the third consecutive time," the telco said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Dial’s pilot network will initially cover several key zones within the city. It said its trials achieved data speeds in excess of 100mbps in indoor demonstration mode, and 40-50mbps in outdoor mobile usage scenarios within the city.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission is monitoring these broadband speeds to ensure consumers get value for money and that broadband speeds are within the advertised range.

A recent price-war left many of the telcos bleeding.

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Dialog Axiata & India's FirstSource Solutions in a BPO Joint Venture to Propel Dialog Business Services Pvt Ltd

05th May 2011, www.news360.lk

Sri Lanka’s Dialog Axiata and FirstSource Solutions of India have entered into a joint venture partnership.

The joint venture is aimed at helping the growth and expansion of Dialog Axiata’s BPO arm which is Dialog Business Services Private Limited (DBS).

Mumbai based FirstSource Solutions is a leading BPO services provider in the world while Dialog Business Services recently launched its services.

Under the agreement, FirstSource will have a stake of 74% and Dialog Axiata will hold a 26% stake in the DBS.

In future DBS will be known as FirstSource – Dialog Solutions.


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Sri Lanka Dialog Looks for an International BPO Partner

08th March 2011, www.lankabusinessonline.com

Sri Lanka's Dialog Axiata, the island's largest mobile operator, said it plans to set up an Information Technology (IT)-enabled services venture and was looking for an international partner for business process outsourcing work.

A stock exchange filing said the new business will be done by the firm's business process outsourcing (BPO) subsidiary, Dialog Business Services (DBS).

DBS on Monday signed a deal with the Board of Investment, the investment promotion agency, to set up and operate an IT-enabled services venture serving domestic and global markets.

"The operations of DBS will be seeded through the transfer of the contact centre operations of Dialog Axiata to DBS (which is to be) fully operational by April 01," the statement said.

The contact centre operations of Dialog Axiata is the first Sri Lankan contact centre to get International BPO industry standard Customer Operations Performance Center 2000 certification, it added.

"Dialog Axiata will actively pursue potential catalysts of growth and competiveness in the ITES sphere including but not limited to the identification of a world class BPO/ITES player as a joint venture partner in DBS," the statement said.

Dialog Axiata chief Hans Wijayasuriya said last month that new investments of 150 million US dollars will partly go strengthen its broadband and fiber optics network coverage.

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Sri Lanka Dialog Invests $150mn on Fibre & Broadband Network Expansion

11th February 2011, uk.reuters.com, By Shihar Aneez and Ranga Sirilal, Editing by Bryson Hull

Sri Lanka's top mobile operator Dialog Axiata DIAL.CM on Friday signed a $150 million investment agreement mainly to fund a fibre upgrade and broadband network expansion, the company said.

Dialog, a unit of Malaysia's Axiata (AXIA.KL), said the investment will help boost the island nation's information and communication technology sector, which Sri Lanka's government has targeted to help fuel rapid economic growth.

"Dialog entered into an agreement with the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI) to invest a further $150 million towards the advancement and expansion of ICT infrastructure in Sri Lanka," it said in a statement.

The company has brought $1 billion in foreign direct investment since its inception in 1994, Dialog said. It was listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange in 2007.

On Monday, Dialog posted a 1.28 billion rupees net profit in the December quarter compared to a 2.23 billion loss a year ago. [ID:nSGE71A01J]. The company later announced 0.20 rupees per share first and final dividend.

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Sri Lanka Mobile E-Commerce Service Wins World Summit Award. Dialog Tradenet Text/Voice Price Information Service Empowers Small Farmers

10th December 2010, www.lankabusinessonline.com

Dialog Axiata, Sri Lankan's largest mobile firm, said a service which provides a virtual marketplace and delivers prices from key produce markets in the island has won a global award for mobile commerce.

'Dialog Tradenet' uses mobile text, voice and internet to deliver price information which is useful especially for small farmers who need timely price information to make decisions.

The "World Summit Award Mobile' is an initiative of the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), in collaboration with UNESCO, UNIDO and the United National Global Alliance for ICT and Development.

"Dialog is passionate about leveraging the power of the mobile phone to bridge economic divides, and disparity with respect to the access to opportunity," Hans Wijayasuriya group chief executive of Dialog Axiata said in a statement.

"Tradenet seeks to attack information asymmetry with respect to the trading of goods and services across geographies and multiple layers of the socio-economic pyramid."

The service won gold at for 'mobile-Inclusion and empowerment' at the World Summit Award Mobile. It can be accessed at www.tradenet.lk or by dialing 977 from a Dialog Axiata phone.

Sri Lanka's state ICT Agency has nominated the service to the UN awards. Sri Lanka's government is pushing information technology and broadband use especially to rural areas.

"As a government, we are thoroughly committed to making ICT an important part of our development story, and we will relentlessly support its growth and exploitation," secretary to Sri Lanka's president Lalith Weeratunga said.

Sri Lanka's telecom regulator Anusha Pelpita says Tradnet is a good example a local innovation in mobile and internet technologies helping buyers and sellers in an affordable manner.

The platform was developed Microimage, a Colombo based software firm.

Produce prices for the service come from wholesale markets in the siald through Govi Gnaana Seva, which captures and makes available data to farmers.

"With Dialog tradenet, Govi Gnaana Seva (GGS) found the perfect platform to provide rural farmers with their most critical information need; produce prices," GGS director Harsha de Silva said.

"The fact that farmers are now using this price information in their decision-making to improve their living standards is a huge success of the tradenet-GGS partnership."

Dialog Posts Net Profit of Rs 1.69bn for 3rd Quarter of 2010

28th October 2010, www.dailynews.lk

Dialog Axiata PLC announced financial results for the nine months ended September 30, 2010.

Financial results included those of Dialog Axiata PLC and of the Dialog Axiata Group post consolidation with subsidiaries Dialog Broadband Networks and Dialog Television.

The Group posted a robust net profit after tax (NPAT) of Rs 1.69 billion for the third quarter of 2010 taking YTD 2010 NPAT for the first nine months to Rs 3.77 billion, a 138 percent increase YoY.

Group profit was underpinned by robust performance at Company level, with Dialog Axiata PLC featuring the Group's mobile business, posting a Q3 and nine months profit of Rs 1.90 billion and Rs 4.99 billion respectively, up 162 percent YoY.

Subsidiaries DTV and DBN delivered robust growth in terms of enhanced profitability at Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) and NPAT levels.

Enhanced profitability at subsidiary level was underpinned by significant performance improvements in the Fixed Line, Broadband, and Television businesses of the Group. On an adjacent QoQ basis EBITDA (positive) and NPAT (negative) improved by 173 percent and 48 percent for DTV and 432 percent and 57 percent for DBN respectively.

Dialog Group revenues were recorded at Rs 30.67 billion for the nine months ended September 30, 2010, up 16 percent YoY and 4 percent QoQ.

Similar growth was delivered in terms of Group EBITDA which was recorded at Rs 11,151 million, up 5 percent QoQ and 74 percent YoY. The Group EBITDA margin improved by 12 percentage points YoY, to reach 36 percent. The positive growth trajectory in terms of EBITDA underpinned robust growth in Group NPAT of 138 percent YoY and 23 percent QoQ.

Driven by robust performance in the mobile market, the company recorded revenues of Rs 9,671 million in Q3 2010 and Rs 28,068 million for the first nine months.

Company revenue grew by 16 percent compared to the first nine months of 2009 and 4 percent relative to the previous quarter.

Dialog's Mobile subscriber base stood at 6.7 million as at end of September 2010, recording a 6 percent growth YoY.

The third Quarter of 2010 featured the transient impact of downward tariff adjustments in the mobile market, immediately following the introduction of floor rate regulations in July 2010.

Accordingly, Core Mobile revenues (excluding interconnection income) which exhibited 13 percent growth YoY, declined marginally by 1.5 percent on an adjacent QoQ basis. Notwithstanding the transient impact of tariff adjustments across the sector, total revenues were bolstered by increased consumption of mobile voice and mobile broadband services, as well by interconnection income, resulting overall in a 4 percent growth in revenue on an adjacent QoQ basis.

Sri Lanka Farmers Earn a Premium for Produce by Mobile Use

27th October 2010, www.lankabusinessonline.com

Use of mobile phones has helped Sri Lankan farmers get better prices for their produce and the technology can help reduce poverty, according to a new United Nations study, officials said.

"There is an informational dimension to poverty - poor people need lots of information for their livelihoods such as on market prices, inputs, weather," said Sriganesh Lokanathan of LIRNEasia, a think tank which helped prepare the report by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

A study done by LIRNEasia on small farmers in Dambulla, an agricultural centre in central Sri Lanka, found that 11 percent of their cost of production goes towards information search, "quite a high percentage," Lokanathan said.

"Information communications technologies (ICTs) have a role in trying to bridge this information gap," he told a news conference held to launch the UNCTAD report called 'Information Economy Report 2010: ICTs, Enterprise and Poverty Alleviation'.

"Without it the vulnerability of poor people increases. ICT can give them pertinent information in time and as accurately as possible."

A study by LIRNEasia this year found that farmers with access to 'Tradenet', a local service that gives prices through mobile phones, are able to earn a premium for their produce.

"By just having market price information several times a day they get premium of 23.4 percent on the average price," said Lokanathan. "So there are real impacts ICTs are having."

The increased access to information through mobile phones has enabled farmers to explore cultivation of different crops and to grow higher value ones that increase incomes and get crop advisory services.

Lokanathan said the potential for ICTs like mobile phones to alleviate poverty in the least developing countries was high as in most LDCs half the rural population is not covered.

But he said it was important to ensure such ICTs were affordable and the experience of South Asia, which has the lowest mobile phone rates, could be useful for other countries.

The UNCTAD report suggests encouraging improving mobile coverage in rural areas and making them more affordable, Lokanathan said.

The report focussed on ICT adoption by poor people, or what's known as BOP - bottom of the pyramid.

"More demand-driven intervention is needed. Policymakers need to better understand local needs," he said. "They need to be aware of what works and what does not in the local context."

The UNCTAD report looks at how ICT can be used in enterprises poor people engage in like fishing and farming and how the poor can be involved in the ICT sector itself, such as selling phone reloads.

Related Info:
Dialog Tradenet - Agricultural Produce Price Information in Sinhala

Light to Life Builds Kilinochchi Vocational Training Institute, Heavy Weights Behind the CSR Program

25th November 2009, www.dailymirror.lk

Light to Life is a project by Rotary International District 3220 Sri Lanka, in partnership with JWT & Mindshare Colombo. It is endorsed by the Vocational Training Authority of Sri Lanka, and aims to build a vocational training institute in Kilinochchi to provide youth in war torn areas with a future through learning.

Since its launch on the 7th of October donations have been pouring in from all over the world particularly from Australia, Canada, UK and the US. Individual donations from little as 1US$ up to US$2,500 are being logged on the website www.lighttolife.lk.

Commenting on the success of the project Ms. Shivi Jayasinghe project Chairperson for the campaign said that the advertising campaign is touching people even in rural Sri Lanka and we receive money orders from villages ranging from Rs500 to even an on-line donation of US$100 from Pilliyandala.

The Light to Life project will erect a spectacular Christmas tree in one of Sri Lanka's premier shopping malls, Crescat Boulevard, from the 1st to the 25th of December. This tree will be a physical representation of a cyber tree that is taking shape through donations at www.lighttolife.lk. The tree has 24 layers and a star to correspond with the 1st 25 days of the month of December. Each layer is worth Rs. 1 million and companies are invited to initially commit a sum of Rs. 250,000, and thereafter encourage their employees, dealers and business partners to contribute the balance Rs. 750,000. So far Dialog, GSK and MAS and JWT Asia Pacific have committed Rs 1 million towards the project.

If the daily target is not met these four entities will step in to underwrite the value up to 1 million each.

Mr. Thayalan Bartlett - Chief Executive Officer of JWT Sri Lanka said, "This is not JWT's Corporate Social Responsibility programme but in fact a CSR programme which we call 'Community Social Responsibility', which gives people and companies worldwide the opportunity to be stakeholders in an initiative. As a corporate policy, JWT actively works for communities it engages with everyday on behalf of its clients' brands. We are of the fervent belief that building a strong and independent community promotes social progression and builds sustainable markets for brands and companies to coexist. We want to make our contribution to a new Sri Lanka."