SRI LANKA INVITES MAXIS, TELEKOM TO INVEST IN SATELLITE PROJECT

By P. Vijian

NEW DELHI, Jan 4 (Bernama) -- Sri Lanka is inviting two top Malaysian teleco
operators Maxis Communications Berhad and Telekom Malaysia to invest in their
US$150 million (RM525 million) maiden satellite project.

Plans are in the pipeline to launch the nation's first geo-stationary
satellite after it signed a deal with United Kingdom-based Surrey Satellite
Technologies Limited (SSTL) last December.

"We have invited Maxis (Communications) and Telekom Malaysia, both of which
have already invested in Sri Lanka," Priyantha Kariyapperuma, director-general
of Sri Lanka's Telecom Regulatory Commission, told Bernama in telephone
interview from Colombo.

"They have expressed interest and said they will invest if the project is
commercially viable," he said.

Dialog, a subsidiary of Axiata Group Bhd (formerly known as TM
International), is the top telecommunications service provider in Sri Lanka,
with the largest mobile network.

Maxis became another major Malaysian player in the island after its parent
company Usaha Tegas purchased a sizeable stake in Sri Lanka Telecom.

Kariyapperuma said the invitation was still in a preliminary stage and
nothing constructive had emerged yet from the two companies.

"It is still in preliminary stage, we should be able to get more details
later this year," he said.

The Sri Lankan government is in the process of setting up its space agency
and plans to launch its first satellite, to be named after the famous British
physicist Sri Arthur C. Clarke who made the island his home until his death.
-- BERNAMA