Business

Dialog launches 4,000th network tower, strengthens coverage of its network

Published

2 years ago

2021/07/5

Records an investment of Rs.50 billion during the pandemic

Reiterating its commitment to expanding connectivity to every corner of the nation, Dialog Axiata PLC launched its 4,000th network tower in Thihawa village, Kurunegala, to further expand coverage to rural communities in the area.

In its continued efforts to expand coverage and support customers during these unprecedented times, Dialog has added 515 new towers to the network during the pandemic period reaching 4000 mobile 4G sites in its network, the highest ever tower count recorded in Sri Lanka. Dialog made use of Green Field towers in rapidly expanding its coverage to reach deep rural communities and the Lamp pole solutions to cater to urgent capacity requirements in dense areas. Dialog will continue to enhance coverage to deep rural communities through another 450 towers, including TRCSL’s “Gamata Sanniwedanaya” project, in the next 6 months, targeting more than 95% population coverage by end of 2021.

Dialog’s network accommodated more than 100% growth in mobile data traffic & more than 200% growth in fixed data traffic during the pandemic period, where the network carries more than 60% of the total mobile data usage of Sri Lanka. To meet the surge in demand, Dialog upgraded the capacity of 2,831 mobile 4G towers and 1,816 fixed broadband towers during the pandemic period and are targeting to enhance the capacity of more than 75% of the sites in the network by the end of the year.

Dialog also made more than twofold enhancements to the spectrum assigned to mobile 4G network by investing in 40MHz spectrum in the 2,600MHz band and re-allocating 13 MHz of frequency previously used for 2G and 3G to 4G broadband with the approval of TRCSL. This is a significant enhancement to Dialog’s spectrum assignment for 4G Broadband, which will enable the network to deliver superior performance, despite catering to a larger customer base and traffic growth.

Dialog is the nation’s largest foreign direct investor with a total investment of USD 2.8 Billion to date and infrastructure investments of USD 207 Million planned for 2021. The ongoing investments are part of the USD 254.1 million investment committed with the Board of Investments in February 2020.

Speaking at the occasion, Oshada Senanayake, Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka said, “We are pleased to be present here today at Dialog’s latest network site launch in Thihawa, Kurunegala. This new tower facilitates 20 villages with both fixed and mobile 4G coverage, and not only enables students to engage in meaningful e-learning, but also changes the way the communities can now utilise the power of connectivity to possibly transform their work and businesses digitally.”

Commenting, Supun Weerasinghe, Group Chief Executive of Dialog Axiata PLC said, ” We appreciate the support extended by our partners to fast-track deployments despite challenges caused by the pandemic. Dialog remains committed to continuing its efforts in increasing bandwidth and strengthening the resilience and coverage of our network.”

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Business

Share investors worried over Wealth and Heritage tax

Published

16 hours ago

2023/03/24

Thilina Walpola

By Hiran H Senewiratne

CSE trading kicked off on a positive note yesterday but the momentum could not be sustained for long owing to investor worries that the government is planning domestic debt restructuring involving the imposition of a wealth and heritage tax on citizens, market sources said.

Amid those developments both indices moved downwards. The All -Share Price Index went down by 131 points and S and P SL-20 declined by 46.8 points. Turnover stood at Rs 3.4 billion with four crossings. Those crossings were reported in Agalawattte Plantations, which crossed 45.3 million shares to the tune of Rs 1.5 billion, its shares traded at Rs 35, CTC 420,000 shares crossed for Rs 269 million and its shares traded at Rs 640, Cargills 100,000 shares crossed to the tune of Rs 24.5 million; its shares traded at Rs 245 and Hayleys 300,000 shares crossed for Rs 24 million; its shares traded at Rs 80.

In the retail market top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were, SLT Rs 234 million (two million shares traded), Hayleys RS 121 million (1.5 million shares traded), Lanka IOC Rs 106 million (115,000 shares traded), Softlogic Capital Rs 69 million (5.6 million shares traded), CTC Rs 65.3 million (101,000 shares traded), Sampath Bank RS 54.7 million (one million shares traded) and Commercial Bank RS 52.5 million (801,000 shares traded).During the day 164 million share volumes changed hands in 20000 transactions.

Business

Brandix ‘RightToRead’ initiative gains momentum enriching Sri Lanka students and transforming learning

Published

16 hours ago

2023/03/24

Thilina Walpola

Inspired by the challenge to provide Sri Lankan children with better access to learning materials and the transformative power to read and comprehend English, Brandix launched the ‘RightToRead’ project in 2018 in collaboration with the Ministry of Education.

Accordingly, Brandix introduced the ‘ReadToMe’ English learning tool, created by English Helper – India, to improve reading and comprehension skills of Sri Lankan students. Last Monday, Julie Chung, the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, visited Susamayawardhana Vidyalaya in Borella, to observe progress of the project and experience how children and educators in Sri Lanka engage with educational technology.

Brandix Lanka Limited, Director, Ajit Johnpillai, said: “Education is the most powerful tool to enrich communities and futures, and Brandix is committed to build a strong foundation for transformational learning for students across Sri Lanka. The progress we have made with RiteToRead over the past two years is promising, and the potential for change in the education sector harnessing such digital technologies is immeasurable. Brandix will continue its commitment to deliver Inspired Solutions for the people of Sri Lanka.”

Business

Dialog TV Boosts Resilience and Capacity with Norsat Satellite Earth Station

Published

16 hours ago

2023/03/24

Thilina Walpola

Hytera, a leading global provider of professional communications technologies and solutions, is proud to announce the successful deployment of a new backup satellite station for Dialog TV, Sri Lanka’s No.1 satellite Pay TV service provider. The project was fulfilled in 2022 by Hytera and its subsidiary specialized in Satellite Communications (SatCom), Norsat International Inc. The new station enhances the resilience and capacity of Dialog TV’s existing system and ensures continuity of service in the event of damage due to natural disasters.
Dialog TV provides coverage over the entirety of Sri Lanka through the Intelsat 38 Ku-band satellite. As the business expanded, it opted for a backup solution to support its existing satellite station and to strengthen the network’s disaster tolerance.
Hytera and Norsat provided an end-to-end satellite earth station solution that includes the installation, integration, and setup of satellite antennas, a transmission and receiving system, a new network management system (NMS), and a carrier monitoring system (CMS). The NMS makes routine work easier and simpler for on-duty staff, as equipment status, parameter monitoring and configuration, and remote control of the devices can be viewed and accomplished via a single interface. The CMS monitors the carrier spectrum status of satellite signals in real-time and ensures stable signal transmission and receiving.
“We are excited to have been able to work with Dialog TV on this important project,” said Kevin Sun, Sales Director for Hytera South Asia, “Our ability to seamlessly integrate our new equipment and software with Dialog TV’s existing systems has helped to ensure a stable and reliable service for their millions of customers across Sri Lanka.”