Financial Times

Sri Lanka Tourist Board Chairman Udaya Nanayakkara last week presented himself before the Commission to Investigate into Allegations of Bribery or Corruption and made a lengthy statement.

Tuesday’s meeting follows an earlier request to him by the commission to make a statement on the previous Tuesday.

Nanayakkara, under investigation for alleged irregularities at the board, had admitted himself to hospital with some ailment and later sought anticipatory bail from the Fort Magistrate to prevent any arrest.

Last week, the Tourist Board chief was prevented from leaving the country by Immigration authorities when he was preparing to fly to London for a tourist-related event.

Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel said last week that new subscriber figures show a 30% increase in the company’s overall subscriber base. This is due to the successful roll out of its revolutionary SMART 5 package.

SMART 5’s promise of charging a flat rate of Rs. 5 for any outgoing call, to any network, to however many people; and the removal of daily rental fees has gone a long way in subscribers seeking this package. In addition, the standardization and flat rate concept for outgoing charges has simplified its product offering in an industry that is oftentimes confused by complicated pricing structures, a company statement said.

Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel’s Chief Executive Officer, Suren J. Amarasekera, said Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel decided earliar on that the conventional industry approach, of cutting prices for the sake of immediate sales increases is not the way to be the best partner to their customers, and instead, decided to enrich the lives of their customers by simplifying the pricing structures so that the convenience that the mobile phones offers is preserved with a flat rate tariff structure and the cutting off of daily rental charges.

Royal Ceramics Lanka Ltd is investing in a new factory to produce 10,000sq.mt.of porcelain tiles per day, the Colombo Stock Exchange was informed last Tuesday. The company said the decision was taken at a board meeting on Monday. The total investment of the company towards this project is expected to be Rs.1 billion.