Emirates Telecommunications (Etisalat) is aiming to purchase a controlling stake in fixed line operator Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT). SLT is Sri Lanka’s largest fixed line operator with 85 per cent market share. Its ownership is currently split between Japan’s Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corporation (NTT) (35.2 per cent), the Sri Lankan government (49.5 per cent) and the public (15.3 per cent). Etisalat plans to invest in SLT as it is a “good operator, generating good revenues”. SLT, which also owns a mobile phone unit, posted a 67 per cent year-on-year growth in net profits at Rs 2.3 billion for the six months ended June 2006. This was driven by higher sales of CDMA phones and data services.
