Sri Lanka Telecom expects its heavy investments in its fiber network to start paying off, with broadband revenues dominating the company’s balance sheet over the next three years.
The operator has invested over 70 billion rupees ($446.25 million) to expand its fiber network over the past two years, and connected its 2 millionth household to the network in late 2017.
Broadband and data services meanwhile accounted for nearly 60% of SLT’s total revenue of 44.5 billion rupees for 2017, up from 38% in 2012.
The company also has also connected 315 government premises to its fiber network and plans to connect 545 more by the end of this year.
But SLT noted that margins from data are decreasing even as infrastructure capex grows, and revenue from international voice and other traditional services is on the decline due to the threat from OTT players.
The company said fiber adoption will also boost third party OTT service consumption, which may further threaten traditional revenue sources but will also contribute to a better return on investment on its fiber network.