Business

Lycamobile’s Subaskaran Allirajah: Refugee from SL owning UK business empire

Published

2 years ago

2024/08/18

Subaskaran Allirajah

“He cooks for everyone and we stand around the breakfast bar and chat. Some of the most important decisions the company has taken have been over meals he’s made.”

This is one of Lycamobile’s leadership team, and he’s talking about his boss, founder and chairman Subaskaran Allirajah. Lycamobile is a mobile virtual network operator, providing Sim packages to people across the globe, enabling them to make calls to anywhere else in the world – you might recognize its store frontage.

The name “Lyca” is based on Allirajah’s sister’s name, Lehka. “I didn’t want to name the company after her exactly in case it didn’t work out,” he explains. Today, Lycamobile is in 21 countries, has 15m customers and turns over €1.6bn. According to The Sunday Times’s Rich List, Allirajah is worth £180m.

The company has 11 subsidiaries and other parts of the business, too: there’s (to name but a few) Lycaremit, a money transfer service, LycaFly, which offers cheap flights, LycaTV, Lycalotto and Lyca Productions, which is working on the film 2.0, billed as being the most expensive Indian production ever, having released a Bollywood hit already.

“Films as well?” I ask as we course through Allirajah’s achievements. “You can make a good margin on films in India, provided you run it as a business. But more than anything, film is my passion; I just really, really love it. When I was little I loved to watch movies – I’d watch one or two every day. Of course, I never thought I’d release a movie,” he qualifies.

But sitting talking to Allirajah in Bella Cosa, his Italian restaurant in Canary Wharf (it’s opposite his office and came up for sale. He owns the Indian down the road, too), it quickly becomes clear that life hasn’t always been like this. The multi-millionaire grew up in Sri Lanka during the country’s civil war. His dad died when he was young and, as a teenager, he followed his brother to Paris to escape the conflict.

Once there, the family set up a restaurant, then a grocers. The grocers sold calling cards to people who wanted to phone abroad. “Suddenly, the distributor stopped supplying, and customers were running round trying to find cards. Other incumbents were too expensive… my brother and I thought, ‘why don’t we just start selling them ourselves?’”

Business went well and, in 1999, Allirajah moved with his wife, then a medical student in Sri Lanka, to London. Three years later, he set up his own firm, Lycatel, a calling card firm. By 2006, he’d moved into mobile. Calling cards “were great for calling internationally at a cheaper rate, but a pain to use for the customer. In the early 2000s, not everybody had a mobile phone. But between 2000 and 2006, usage increased.”

Allirajah decided to bring across the benefits of the calling card to a mobile platform – so customers would have the benefit of making international calls cheaply on their mobiles. “To do that, we had to become a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) – a user friendly innovation. Regulations in Europe had recently changed to allow this to happen, and the Netherlands was one of the first countries to adopt the change. So we launched Lycamobile there with T-Mobile.”

Move with the times

Now, Lyca’s reach spans Australia to Poland, Tunisia to the US. Allirajah says changing migration patterns and increasing movement means Lyca’s target audience has altered. “With calling cards, it was individuals looking to call outside Europe. Then, it was intra-Europe. Now, it is the international customer – anyone travelling internationally. People used to be happy with having two phones and having to switch between them; now they want just the one.”

Moreover, voice calls still play a huge part in Lycamobile’s offering, he adds, despite the enormous rise of data. That said, Lyca’s spin-offs focus closely on the rise in the use of data in its key markets: across Africa, for example, LycaTV offers specific content aimed at local audiences. You can see the logic: if you’re offering data, why not offer content for consumers using that data?

“We have LycaTV, LycaRadio – it’s great for customers to have all of that in one place. The challenge for all operators is to strike a balance between what people are doing, what they are using, and be one step ahead: what will they want next?”

A bigger purpose

But what has driven him to do all this? Attempting to extract a grand statement from him, we come to: “I simply took advantage of opportunities that were before me, because that was all I had at the time. Having some success has meant being able to give back to communities who need it. That is fulfilling.”

It’s his team who pipe up: “Subas is the most humble, generous person. He just will not admit it”; “he spends so much time giving others things, making the lives of others better.”

In 2010, Allirajah founded the Gnanam Foundation with his mum (Gnanam is her name). Financed entirely by his company, the foundation will shortly open Lyca Village in Northern Sri Lanka. The village has been built for a community that has been in a refugee camp for the past 25 years. “That is an achievement for me. I would like to do more projects like this, in places where it’s needed most.”

Allirajah’s wife is the chair of the Gnanam Foundation, and of LycaHealth. “She never got to finish her studies and become a doctor [she followed Allirajah to the UK and then studied biomedical sciences], so I said to her ‘I’ll make sure you will have many doctors reporting to you.’” LycaHealth owns and runs diagnostics centres in Canary Wharf and Orpington. It will shortly be opening a new, 11-storey facility, in Chennai in India. “The long-term plan is to have 10 worldwide. She’s the one behind it and now has over 200 doctors reporting to her.”

In addition to opening a village, a medical centre and releasing a film this year, Allirajah intends to press on with his plan to have 50m people using Lycamobile by 2020, focusing on Africa and South America for growth. The company has also just bought Ortel, a direct competitor in Belgium.

“It’s a good year, actually. And there is increasing interest worldwide for launching MVNOs – from football clubs to social media startups.”

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Business

Urgent joint action plan to tackle pollution in Lake Gregory

Published

22 hours ago

2026/08/29

Thilina Walpola

Top level consultations proceeding on Lake Gregory

By Ifham Nizam

An urgent joint action plan is to be implemented to tackle the worsening water pollution threatening the environmental health and tourism value of Lake Gregory in Nuwara Eliya, following a special inspection and high-level discussion held yesterday.

The inspection and subsequent discussion were led by Deputy Minister of Environment Anton Jayakody, who stressed the need for immediate and coordinated intervention to address the emerging pollution problem before it causes further ecological damage to the iconic lake.

The meeting, held at the Nuwara Eliya District Secretariat, brought together Deputy Minister of Education Dr. Madhura Seneviratne, Chairman of the Nuwara Eliya District Coordinating Committee Manjula, District Secretary Nandana Jayakody, Secretary to the Ministry of Environment K. R. Uduwawala, the Central Environmental Authority’s District Director and senior officials representing the Irrigation Department, National Water Supply and Drainage Board and Urban Development Authority.

A key decision was to establish a special Management Committee comprising representatives of the Sri Lanka Navy, Central Environmental Authority, Nuwara Eliya Municipal Council and District Secretariat to formulate and implement an immediate action programme.

The committee is expected to identify practical short-term measures while accelerating longer-term interventions aimed at preventing pollutants from reaching the lake.

One of the immediate priorities will be the reactivation of the 13-pond natural treatment system, which was designed to naturally filter agricultural runoff and urban wastewater before such pollutants enter Lake Gregory.

Officials also discussed strengthening natural aeration and introducing natural filtration methods to tackle foul odours and improve the quality of the lake water.

Particular attention will be given to reducing nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations, which can contribute to excessive nutrient enrichment and deterioration of aquatic ecosystems.

The meeting further emphasised the urgent need to prevent wastewater from the Nuwara Eliya municipal sewerage network and other sources of waste from being discharged into the lake.

Long-term project proposals aimed at providing a sustainable solution to wastewater and pollution entering Lake Gregory will also be expedited.

The authorities recognised that protecting Gregory Lake is not merely an environmental obligation but is also critical to safeguarding Nuwara Eliya’s tourism economy. The lake remains one of the town’s most prominent attractions, drawing large numbers of domestic and foreign visitors.

The Government therefore intends to coordinate the efforts of all relevant institutions to implement both immediate remedial measures and long-term pollution-control projects.

The latest initiative comes amid growing concern over the condition of the lake, highlighting the need for a comprehensive approach that addresses pollution at its sources rather than relying solely on periodic clean-up operations.

Authorities said prompt implementation of the agreed measures would be essential to restore and protect the ecological health of Gregory Lake while preserving its scenic value and appeal as one of Nuwara Eliya’s major tourist attractions.

Business

Sri Lanka: An example of a country building a modern, resilient financial architecture

Published

22 hours ago

2026/08/29

Thilina Walpola

SB Seker, Head of APAC, Binance

By SB Seker, Head of APAC, Binance

Sri Lanka’s economic rebound over the past four years is a testament to national resilience. The World Bank’s recent upgrade of Sri Lanka to an upper-middle-income economy, alongside significant improvements on the Global Peace Index, marks a definitive turning point. The nation has successfully moved past acute crisis management and is now laying the groundwork for long-term stability.

Sustained economic recovery requires more than traditional macroeconomic rebuilding, it demands a future-proof financial ecosystem. As commerce, capital flows, and consumer behavior increasingly digitize, governments worldwide are recognizing that emerging technologies cannot remain in a regulatory vacuum.

This is precisely why the Sri Lankan government’s recent decision to empower the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as the official regulator for Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) is a landmark policy move. Sri Lanka is signaling that it is serious about holistic financial modernization. Protecting retail investors from spurious platforms, encouraging accountability, and embracing structural reform are the hallmarks of an economy looking confidently toward a secure digital future.

For an island nation with an estimated 420,000 digital asset users – a population that is young, highly literate, and tech-savvy – establishing a clear regulatory perimeter is important. The absence of formal frameworks means retail participants may navigate unmonitored digital spaces without regulatory recourse, facing elevated risks from opaque operators and platforms lacking essential consumer safeguards. That gap is exactly where bad actors thrive. By bringing VASPs under structured oversight, aligned with robust Anti-Money Laundering (AML) standards, Sri Lanka is prioritizing market integrity and user protection.

Crucially, this regulatory clarity empowers everyday citizens. A functioning VASP framework closes it. Clear rules draw a bright line between deceptive actors and transparent, Tier-1 compliant platforms that adhere to rigorous standards. When compliance becomes the baseline, users gain access to critical transparency measures. Simple things like proof-of-reserves audits, independent confirmation that customer funds are actually there, stop being a nice-to-have and start being table stakes.

The legislation still has to be drafted and passed, and effective implementation will be the key part. Licensing timelines need to be realistic, compliance requirements need to make sense for both global exchanges and smaller local players, and the dialogue between regulators and industry needs to continue past the Cabinet approval. Get that right, and Sri Lanka won’t just have caught up with global standards, it will have shown other emerging economies a workable path for doing the same.

Business

Positive sentiments make a comeback to CSE in wake of peace deal news

Published

22 hours ago

2026/08/29

Thilina Walpola

By Hiran H. Senewiratne

CSE trading yesterday reflected positive sentiments due to reducing tensions in the West Asian region following Iran’s positive reactions to peace overtures.

The All Share Price Index went up by 43.21 points, while the S and P SL20 rose by 20.37 points.

Turnover stood at Rs 2.2 billion with three crossings. Those crossings were; Softlogic Capital 6.7 million shares crossed to the tune of Rs 73 million; its shares traded at Rs 11, HNB 176,000 shares crossed for Rs 67 million; its shares traded at Rs 380 and JKH 1 million shares crossed for Rs 20 million; its shares sold at Rs 19.70.

In the retail market companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were; WindForce Rs 495 million (12.7 million shares traded), Digital Mobility Solutions Rs 258 million (1.6 million shares traded), Sierra Cables Rs 246 million (6.9 million shares traded), Haycarb Rs 90 million (457,000 shares traded),Commercial Credit and Finance Rs 79 million (733,000 shares traded), HNB Rs 74 million (195,000 shares traded) and CCS Rs 57 million (548,000 shares traded). During the day 66.4 million share volumes changed hands in 17017 transactions.

It is said that the banking sector, especially HNB, and manufacturing sectors performed well, while the renewable energy sector, especially WindForce, traded well at the floor.

Meanwhile, Arcasia Investment & Trading and ATX Partners announced the conversion of their voluntary offer to a mandatory offer for Industrial Asphalts (Ceylon) under the Company Takeovers and Mergers Code.

The offers received acceptances totaling 1,880,693,010 shares (50.16% shareholding), including 48.03% from Ramanan Govindasamy and 2.13 percent from Srikumar Balasubramaniyam on August 24, 2026

Yesterday the rupee was quoted at Rs 328.00/05 to the US dollar in the spot market stronger from Rs 328.50/60 Tuesday, while bond yields were steady to lower on select tenors, dealers said.