Sri Lanka Telecom Annual Report 2003     Sri Lanka Telecom - Setting a New Benchmark in Telecommunications   Cutting Edge Sri Lanka Telecom is at the cutting edge of telecommunications in this country. In six years it has taken a moribund state entity and transformed it into a dynamic and innovative communications provider, on par with the world’s best. Sri Lanka’s move towards a fully liberalised telecommunications market will enable SLT to use the opportunity to grow and to provide state-of-the-art services making the country a telecommunications hub for the South Asian region. Robust SLT has close to 90% of the fixed line subscriber customer base. Its acquisition of Mobitel, Sri Lanka’s third largest mobile operator makes it the only provider to offer both fixed and mobile services. Mobitel will soon offer a state-of-the-art GSM network with the capacity for third generation mobile telephony services. The recent re-commissioning of the microwave link between India and Sri Lanka gives SLT access to a potential Indian customer base of 43 million. The Telecom City that would combine the best in information technology with the finest in communications technology will enable SLT to offer better connectivity and higher bandwidth to those companies who wish to exploit this. High speed internet access through SLT Broadband, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and an Internet Data Centre to host and manage data for business customers are some of the Company’s recent products and services. Broadbased In 2002 it offered 12% of its shares to the public and as a result became the largest public quoted company on the Colombo Stock Exchange. Its annual turnover now exceeds Rs. 24 billion and for the last two years it achieved operating profits of over Rs. 5 billion. Over the past six years Rs. 51.25 billion has been invested to upgrade its infrastructure and network and a further Rs. 7.0 billion has been earmarked for 2004.