Dialog Axiata Group invests USD 152.4 mn in Sri Lanka
Raja Edirisuriya, Chairman, BOI, Supun Weerasinghe, Group Chief Executive/Director, Dialog Axiata and Viranthi Attygalle, Group Company Secretary, Dialog Axiata, with Tan Sri Shahril Ridza Ridzuan, Chairman, Independent Non-Executive Director of Axiata Group Berhad, Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, Joint Acting Group Chief Executive Officer, CEO – Telecommunications Business/Group Executive Vice President, Axiata Group Berhad, and Renuka M. Weerakone, Director General, Board of Investment of Sri Lanka after signing the supplementary agreements between Dialog Axiata P and Dialog Broadband Networks and the BOI.
Dialog Axiata Group, the largest Foreign Direct Investor (FDI) announced the entering into of two supplementary agreements with the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI), for the investment of an additional sum of USD 152.4 million (Rs. 56.7bn) in Sri Lanka’s Telecommunications and ICT Infrastructure recently. The investment comprises USD 112.8 million from Dialog Axiata PLC and USD 39.6 million from its subsidiary Dialog Broadband Networks (Private) Limited.
These agreements span a broad scope of telecommunications and ICT infrastructure development by the Dialog Axiata Group, encompassing the expansions of mobile and fixed 4G-LTE networks to provide rural and deep-indoor coverage, enhancement of big-data analytics and customer interaction capabilities, the evolution of IP and fibre networks, and the further development of the Group’s Wi-Fi and broadband networks.
It is envisaged that these developments will offer more reliable and cost-effective internet connectivity, and significantly contribute to propelling the nation’s mobile telephony and fixed infrastructure to the forefront of innovation, accelerating Sri Lanka into a digital nation.
Chairman, Independent Non-Executive Director of Axiata Group Berhad Tan Sri Shahril Ridza Ridzuan, said, “As the largest FDI in Sri Lanka, this latest investment agreement bear’s testimony to Axiata’s continued confidence in the nation and our commitment to Sri Lanka and its people.”
“We consider Sri Lanka to be one of the key innovation hubs, where Dialog has achieved many region firsts, staying true to its ethos of delivering ‘The Future. Today’.”
Dialog is Sri Lanka’s largest Foreign Direct Investor (FDI) with cumulative investments totalling USD 3.1 billion.
“As the largest foreign investor in the country, Axiata has been a consistent and key enabler of this journey, even amid uncertainties. We are pleased to see the continued investments and unwavering commitment by the company which exemplifies the innumerable opportunities available in Sri Lanka to foreign investors who believe in and are willing to invest in the nation with a focus of capturing long-term value,” said Raja Edirisuriya, Chairman, BOI.
Dialog Axiata Group is a subsidiary group of companies of Axiata Group Berhad, Asia’s second largest Telco with operations spanning across 8 countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Singapore and India, and Axiata has been a committed and long-term investor in Sri Lanka since the inception of Dialog.