SLT is to raise 125 Million U.S.$ from sale of Bonds

Sri Lanka Telecom is to raise 125 Million U.S.Dollars from sale of bonds for expansion activities. It has received several proposals from investments banks in this regard.

The rating of the SLT has been raised by the Fitch Ratings to ‘positive’ from last months rating of ‘stable’. The Chief Financial Officer of the SLT Mr. Shiron Gooneratne has said that SLT is looking to increase capital expenditure for investing in the North and the East, and they extended their fibre optic network to Jaffna recently and the general business conditions are improving.

Sri Lanka's wireline business shrank in 2009 as subscribers shifted to mobile use. But during the second quarter of 2010 wireline has started to grow again and fixed access wireless - where SLT is also active – grew by 3.8 percent.

SLT also owns Mobitel, a leading Mobile Phone Entity in the island. Sri Lanka's mobile users grew 25 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, according to official data.

Sri Lanka Telecom is a majority government owned Telecommunication Firm, in which the largest outside shareholder is Malaysia's UT group, which has appointed the chief executive. (niz).