SLT’s Chairperson, Mrs. Leisha de Silva Chandrasena, has assured all stakeholders of the company of "a secure future" saying that SLT had proved its resilience in the face of market turbulence.

Chandrasena reported to SLT shareholders in its Investor journal that several strategic investments that had been made in diversified business arenas had enabled successful financial achievements during the first nine months of a financially gloomy 2008.

"Investment in the mobile industry through Mobitel is one of the most appropriate examples of this kind. As a result of this investment we are today reaping rich benefits and dividends with very good prospects for the future," she said.

Maxis, a major player in Malaysia’s mobile telephone industry, having bought out Japan’s NTT, is now a substantial shareholder of SLT along with the Sri Lanka government.

Chandrasena also expressed confidence that SLT’s recent investment in IPTV service will bring "equally good results in the near future."

This service which was launched in October 2008 goes beyond traditional TV services offering a variety of novel features including the downloading of favourite movies, games and catching up of missed programs, etc.

This would suit the busy lifestyle of the modern consumer and augurs well for the future where `convenience’ and `functionality’ will be key words, she said.

TV channels available on SLT’s IPTV includes Rupavahini, Channel Eye, ITN, Max, HBO, HBO Signature, HBO Hits, HBO family, CNN, BBC World, NDTV 24X7, Al Jazeera, Ujala, Peace TV, Spacetoons, Colors, DD Sports, VH1,n MTV, Nickelodean, STC, B4U Music, NDTV Good Times, Ceebies BBC, Zee Music and a few other Hindi channels.

SLT invested US$ 100 million floating a subsidiary SLT VisionCom to launch its IPTV services to broadband customers.

This IPTV deployment is designed to support approximately 100,000 subscribers in the next two years and will enable the company to provided video services to future subscribers over copper lines within three or four years, the company said.