16 February 2012, CompaniesAnd Markets.com

Companies and Markets, a leading market research organisatoin has relesed its latest review on Sri Lankan Telecommunications Sector.  In the press release promoting the latest report, the companies and market is predicting mixed fortunes for the Sri Lankan Telecoms makrket…

“In this quarter’s update on the Sri Lankan telecoms market, we have extended our mobile, fixed-line, internet, broadband and ARPU forecasts to 2016. In light of new data published by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and the International Telecommunications Union, we have made several adjustments to our forecast scenarios.”

Says The report.

Further It eloborates ” Most notably, we have downgraded our expectation for the number of mobile subscribers between 2011 and 2016 on the back of slow growth in the first half of 2011. Similarly, the growth slowdown was experienced in the fixed-line sector. We now expect growth in Sri Lanka’s fixed-line market to decline in 2016 after a few more years of sluggish performance. The bright spot in the Sri Lankan telecoms sector is reserved for the internet, specifically the mobile broadband segment. There were 368,000 mobile broadband subscribers in the country at the end of June 2011, representing an impressive 206.5% increase y-o-y. We expect the momentum to remain robust as operators continue to roll out 3G and next generation mobile technology networks.”

It is specifically highlighting the fortunes of “Suntel” a troubled pioneer in private fixed line operators in the country. The report highlights..

“Debt-laden alternative fixed-line operator SunTel has been a target for several companies with the latest being Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT). A potential US$200mn deal was reported, which would be almost double the sum offered by India’s Mahanagar Telephone Nigam in 2010. We believe that SLT’s real attraction to SunTel is its large and comparatively robust enterprise customer base. In addition to basic voice services, SunTel offers hosted PABX, broadband internet, virtual mail server, web creation/hosting and managed security services for businesses. By buying SunTel, SLT could substantially increase its own enterprise services business.”

Full details of the report can be read at
http://www.companiesandmarkets.com/Market/Telecommunications/Market-Research/Sri-Lanka-Telecommunications-Report-Q1-2012/RPT1024347?aCode=b860166d-1022-455a-ba52-09304b8e5e40