Dialog eyes further growth after 10-year landmark

Dialog Axiata Chairman Datuk Azzat Kamaludin ringing the opening bell. Also present from left: Dialog Axiata Director Moskevi Prelis, Dialog Axiata Group Chief Executive Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, CSE Chairman Vajira Kulatilaka and CSE CEO Rajeeva Bandaranaike – Pic by Lasantha Kumara

By Madushka Balasuriya

A Market Opening Ceremony celebrating the 10-year anniversary of Dialog Axiata Plc being listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) was held yesterday. Dialog Chairman Datuk Azzat Kamaludin rang the traditional bell signalling the beginning of the trading day.

Speaking at the ceremony, CSE Chairman Vajira Kulatilake praised the Dialog team for the hard work that went into ensuring that the Dialog IPO was the largest ever seen at the CSE. Also addressing the gathering, Director/Group Chief Executive at Dialog, Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, hailed the best practices carried out by the Colombo Stock Exchange, which he said was the “guiding force” behind Dialog’s growth over the last 10 years.

Dr. Wijayasuriya also identified the avenues that Dialog saw its growth coming from next.

“I think the telecom industry worldwide is going through a transformation. In that sense growth will come not from core telecommunications services but all the other services that can be provided around telecommunications, such as data services, mobile financial services, mobile insurance, digital television and high speed broadband,” he said.

Asked whether political uncertainty would affect Dialog’s future investments, Dr. Wijayasuriya stated: “The sooner there is clear certainty the better. To put it simply we will have to wait and see.” 

He went on to clarify that this was the external situation before proceeding to elaborate on several plans in the pipeline. 

“One key investment we have made this year - the project is nearing completion - is a new submarine cable which will provide the largest infusion of international bandwidth to Sri Lanka. This is expected to be launched later this year.”

When the Daily FT later clarified with Dr. Wijayasuriya what tangible benefit this would bring to the Sri Lankan public, he revealed that as opposed to significantly faster speeds the quantity of bandwidth was what would increase. This would effectively allow more people to use and be connected to the internet without experiencing any significant slowdown in speed.

Sri Lanka’s first billion-dollar company retains largest IPO record for a decade

Having commenced commercial operations in July 1995, Dialog held its Initial Public Offering in July 2005. Dialog’s IPO remains the largest ever listing on the CSE to date at a value of over Rs. 8.5 billion. The shares were oversubscribed 6.5 times with over Rs. 56.2 billion in subscriptions. Dialog also rose to being Sri Lanka’s first billion-dollar company shortly after the opening of trading.

Sri Lanka’s largest Foreign Direct Investor with over $ 1.7 billion in investments, Dialog is credited with propelling the country’s mobile telephone infrastructure to a level of advancement on par with the developed world. 

The Dialog IPO in 2005 also received the highest level of overseas subscriptions of Rs. 40 billion, plus the highest recorded number of trades of 13,254 the same year.