| Kippreport.com

Etisalat to spend $163 mln on Sri Lanka expansion

July 20, 2010 3:13 by Reuters

Emirates Telecommunication Corp. the Arab world’s second-largest telecom operator by market value, said on Tuesday it will invest $163 million in an expansion of its Sri Lankan network.

“We will invest $163 million in the next six months to expand the network,” said Duminda Rathnayake, the chief executive officer for Etisalat in Sri Lanka.

The expansion will also cover former war zones in the island nation’s north and east, while upgrading the technology to 3G standard and the company expects to increase the coverage to 80 percent of Sri Lanka from a current 65 percent, he said.

Etisalat in October bought Tigo, the Sri Lankan mobile operations of Millicom International for $207 million.

Etisalat is the third largest mobile phone operator in Sri Lanka with around 3 million customers after Dialog Axiata and Mobitel, a subsidiary of Sri Lanka Telecom .

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal; Writing by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Greg Mahlich)

Tags: Etisalat 163 mln Sri Lanka expansion, Etisalat invest Sri Lanka, second-largest telecom operator market value, third largest mobile phone operator Sri Lanka