SLT inks $ 415 m ICT investment deal with BOI

Friday, 25 April 2014 02:08 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Latest move gets flagship status for SLT from BOI Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), the flagship national ICT solutions provider and premier broadband services and backbone infrastructure operator, announced yesterday that the company has received flagship status from the Board of Investment (BOI) after committing a total investment of $ 415.44 million to undertake telecommunication, information technology, broadband and infrastructure expansion in the country within the next two years. On Wednesday, 23 April, the company entered into this landmark multi-million dollar telecom investment agreement with the BOI. BOI Sri Lanka Chairman Dr. Lakshman Jayaweera and SLT Group Chairman Nimal Welgama signed on behalf of the two organisations in the presence of SLT Group CEO Lalith De Silva. This investment agreement will encompass the expansion of multi-faceted national ICT infrastructures: Internet Data Centres (IDCs), voice services, enterprise and wholesale services, high speed broadband services, Peo TV expansion, fibre optic network expansion, 4G LTE expansion, international connectivity, Fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) and Wi-Fi wireless broadband projects. The SLT Group has invested over $ 1.3 billion in telecommunication service provisioning since coming under the BOI umbrella in 2007, which includes the total value commitment of this new agreement; and the overall investment the group has made throughout its entire 150-year span which is enormous in terms of magnitude. Since obtaining BOI approval in 2007, SLT has invested in excess of Rs. 57 billion/$ 485 million to improve the country’s telecommunication infrastructure.

Welgama commented: “Investments made by SLT towards the country for a period of over 150 years have placed Sri Lanka as well as our country’s entire ICT sector at the forefront of the region by facilitating multi-faceted ICT solutions to the nation and helping to increase its strategic geographical advantage. We are indeed humbled by the confidence placed in us by the GoSL and BOI.” Dr. Jayaweera said: “We are happy to see the initiatives taken by Sri Lanka Telecom to change the techno-landscape of the country, and play a major role as the facilitator of investments into our country and I take my hat off to the SLT team. We need this kind of development to take our country’s economy to $ 100 billion GDP within the next couple of years in line with the GoSL’s economic goals. We believe that major developments like this will take this country to the next stage of development. This will bring many more benefits in its wake, including other indirect investments and more FDI streaming to the country, etc. The BOI is very glad that we can be the initiators and we are ready to assist Sri Lanka Telecom and any other investor.” De Silva commented: “This is a very important milestone for Sri Lanka Telecom and the entire country. We strive to meet the needs and wants of a large private sector, Government sector, SMEs and micro businesses as well as individuals and endeavour to provide world class ICT services and technologies which will certainly catalyse national development in the years to come. This new investment planned by SLT to establish the country’s ICT infrastructure will lead towards Sri Lanka being attractive for investments and conducive towards overall economic growth in the future. “The company has undertaken to continuously upgrade infrastructure and has extended its reach to ensure convenience and enhancement of lifestyles of our entire nation. We are proud to play this lead role in strengthening the country’s ICT infrastructure to achieve the country’s vision of transforming Sri Lanka into the ‘Wonder of Asia’ with the great support extended to us by the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka.” Soon after the end of the conflict, SLT was at the forefront to rebuild and restore the national telecommunication infrastructure in the cleared areas of the Northern and Eastern Provinces of the country. The Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRC) has entrusted SLT with the task of building the National Telecommunication Backbone Network (NBN) to provide high speed connectivity, with highest redundancy and uninterrupted access to services to all telecommunication service providers in Sri Lanka. With all these endeavours SLT will be a catalyst for change and transformation in Sri Lanka and thereby truly unite the entire nation as ‘one country, one voice’.