Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel further strengthens relationship with Singer Plus

Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel, the National Mobile Service Provider marked a key milestone in its relationship with Singer Sri Lanka, the number one retailer of consumer durables, making available Mobitel services at all Singer Plus outlets, Modern Homes and Sisil showrooms.

Picture Caption: Suren Amarasekera, Chief Executive Officer of Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel exchanging the agreement with Hemaka Amarasuriya, Chairman, Singer (Sri Lanka) Ltd. Also pictured are (from left) Shanaka Abeywickrama, Manager - Channel Development, Nalin Perera, Chief Marketing Officer, Chandika Vitharana, General Manager - Sales & Distribution, Rukshan De Silva, Senior Marketing Manager- Channels of Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel with Asita Abeysekera, Marketing Director, Premalal De Silva, Sales Director and Viresh Gomes, Manager - Financial Services & Project Co-ordinator, of Singer (Sri Lanka) Ltd.

Speaking at the event, Suren J Amarasekera, CEO, Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel said, “We are privileged to join hands with Singer to provide Mobitel services, strengthening our relationship with them further. Singer has developed their network to be one of the largest retail networks in Sri Lanka. Combined with the new and improved fully computerised ERP system, they are now in a position to provide the utmost value and convenience to consumers. Singer has certainly lived up to its promise of ‘Trusted Brand Excellence,’ and we pride ourselves to be in partnership with them.”

Services available initially at Singer Plus are Mobitel bill payment options and SMART Reload options. Mobitel further intends to enhance the service offering by the availability of purchase of SMART connections and broadband solutions in the near future. This will help to expand the wide reach of Mobitel’s presence through the distribution network of Singer. The agreement also highlights the convenience offered to its subscribers by a company that cares.

Adding further, Hemaka Amarasuriya, Chairman, Singer Sri Lanka said, “We have 355 stores today, of which 140 are on the peripheral parts of Sri Lanka. These are whom we call Approved Dealers. We are continuously expanding in terms of building up our retail network, which encompasses every part of the country. This is a win win agreement, where both companies are leveraging on each other’s strengths. As a company, their success is in building strong relationships with other corporates in Sri Lanka and abroad. I firmly believe that in time, as we go forward, that this relationship will go from strength to strength.”

The company had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Singer on December 8, 2006 for an authorised retailer agreement, which was an antecedent to the signing of a MOU for the sales of cellular phones on consignment basis on May 11, 2006. This has resulted in Mobitel continuing its presence in all Singer Mega branches with online options, where customers could pay their bills, purchase a new connection as well as obtain other services. Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel, the National Mobile Services Provider, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sri Lanka Telecom. In January 2004, the company launched its full-fledged 2.5G GSM network that is EDGE/GPRS enabled and in December 2007 Mobitel launched South Asia’s first and only network with super 3.5G HSPA technology. Investments committed to date in its 3.5G/2.5G networks and service offering totals over US$ 200mn and is set to increase its present 1000 + base stations to 1500 base stations by the end of the year.