No Surprises

July 31, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Telecom, the island's biggest telephone company, said Monday second-quarter profits rose 112 percent, after it signed up more wireless customers. The company, which controls 85 percent of Sri Lanka's fixed-line telecommunications market, made a billion rupee net profit over a 31 percent revenue growth to 9.97 billion rupees for the three months to June.

The strong earnings lifted SLTs six months' figures, with net profits up 67 percent to 2.30 billion rupees over 29 percent sales growth of 19.56 billion rupees.

During the second quarter, SLT initiated a voluntary retirement scheme which cost the company 425 million rupees.

SLTs earnings are being lifted by the wireless CDMA services introduced last November.

The telco's CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) service runs on a wireless network offering a range of services like faster internet/email connectivity and the mobility to move the handset anywhere, just like a cellular phone.

SLTs current CDMA subscriber base is expected to cross 200,000 users by end-December.

A joint venture with India's Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) to route the company’s international