In D-commerce, Dialog increased its stake
in Digital Commerce Lanka (DCL), the
company which operates WoW.lk, the
largest e-commerce website in Sri Lanka,
from 45.71% in 2014 to 100% in 2015. In
addition, WoW.lk grew its e-commerce
offerings through strategic partnerships
with a number of consumer companies
and brands, and ventured into financing
services in collaboration with a number of
banks.
Dialog Broadband Networks (DBN)
now serves over 500,000 enterprises
and houses providing multiple services
including fixed telephony, hosted PABX
offerings, broadband, Internet leased
lines, data communication, Internet Data
Centre (IDC), converged ICT solutions,
telecommunication
infrastructure,
transmission and backbone services. The
Company also launched Cumulus, a cloud
services portfolio hosted at Dialog Internet
Data Centers (iDC). iDC is the first and
only data centre in Sri Lanka to obtain the
ISO 27001 certification (ISO 27001:2013)
for meeting the highest standards of
information security.
Dialog Television (DTV) continues to be at
the forefront of the pay television industry
in Sri Lanka, catering to the infotainment
needs of around 650,000 Sri Lankan
homes, representing a subscriber market
share of over 70%.
Financial Performance
Dialog demonstrated strong revenue
growth across Mobile, Digital Pay
Television, Tele-infrastructure and Fixed-
Line businesses to record consolidated
revenue of SLR73.9 billion, a significant
increase of 10% from 2014. Robust
revenue growth coupled with operational
efficiencies from cost management
initiatives resulted in Earnings Before
Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation
(EBITDA) growth of 14% at SLR.23.8 billion,
while EBITDA margin stood at 32.2%.
Dialog’s capital expenditure of SLR19.6
billion was directed towards investments
in high speed broadband infrastructure
and roll out of fiberisation, alongside
investments into the final phase of the
Bay of Bengal Gateway (BBG) Sub-Marine
Cable project. These capital investments
will further strengthen Dialog’s leadership
in Sri Lanka’s ICT infrastructure sector.
Outlook for 2016
The telecommunications industry in
Sri Lanka continues to be competitive,
developing exponentially in terms of
scale, rapid technology migration and
adoption of smart devices. In particular,
the high speed broadband service sector
shows substantial growth potential with
relatively low penetration, coupled with
greater availability and affordability of
smart devices and increasing adoption of
digitalised lifestyles.
Dialog is well positioned to seize market
opportunities in broadband and innovative
products and services through expansion
of 2G, 3G and 4G networks, widening
sales distribution and aggressively driving
data adoption among consumers. There
is also low Pay TV market penetration in
the country, estimated at less than 20%,
which holds prospects for future growth.
2016 will see Dialog fortifying its position
as the leader in digital services in the
country as it continues with investments
in the digital space.
• Subscriber growth of
12.0%
YoY, with
21.2%
market share and
28.3
milllion customers
• Data revenue growth of
78.9%
and data usage
growth of
200%
• First to partner with Facebook
to offer free Internet platform
• Customer service
improvements of
48%
• Proposed merger agreement
with Airtel to strengthen
market position
• Robi named #1 Most Socially
Devoted Brand in the world
About Robi
As a subsidiary of Axiata Group Berhad,
Robi serves customers in Bangladesh
with cutting edge digital mobile
telecommunications technology. Robi
commenced operations in 1997 under the
brand name ‘Aktel’. In 2010, the company
was rebranded to ‘Robi’ and changed its
name to Robi Axiata Limited.
Within a strong framework of corporate
governance, its employees approach
challenges with uncompromising integrity
and an ‘I can, I will’ attitude, putting
customers at the centre of all their
activities.
axiata group berhad | annual report 2015
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