Dialog announces USD300 million investment; CDMA service due within a month

Sri Lanka’s largest mobile operator by subscribers Dialog Telekom has pledged to invest SLK33 billion (USD300 million) in the telecoms and media sector this year, to bring its total investment in the country to over USD800 million. The cellco, a subsidiary of Telekom Malaysia, intends to direct a major portion of the investment into fixed line telephony and broadband services via its Dialog Broadband unit. Dialog Broadband plans to launch rural CDMA fixed wireless services within the next few weeks, and is also deploying WiMAX infrastructure and expanding its fibre-optic backbone nationwide. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, Dialog Broadband launched a pilot WiMAX wireless broadband internet access service for selected corporate users in Hambantona, Matara, Galle, Kurunagala, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa in January 2007. Some of Dialog’s other investments will be aimed at developing its range of digital TV services via another subsidiary, Asset Media.