More katha, more sina

The first batch of cards cater to the cricket crazed market, as they feature Mahela Jayawardena on the card valued at Rs. 700, Murali at Rs. 1000 and Sanath at Rs. 2000. In addition, Mobitel will issue two more cards, for the value of Rs. 5000, which features the three cricketers together and a Rs. 350 generic card that features a female model. 

Other celebrities from the movie, entertainment and sports will be featured in the next batch of cards depicting the mood at the time. 

Mobitel Marketing Executive, Ms. Rochelle Fernando said the prepaid card offered the customers a choice of three tariff packages to suit their needs. Selected packages offer caller line identification (CLI), short message service (SMS), voice mail and email. In addition Ms. Fernando said that Mobitel's prepaid card offered the lowest start-up fee among the competition. 

Mobitel Marketing Communications Manager, Jummah Preena said that the cards featured the stars only as an added attraction to its low cost start-up fee and their three competitive tariff structures. Meanwhile, the card features a 180-day validity period compared to the other prepaid cards that are valid for 60 day or less. It also features free subscription to IDD and SLT IDD call charges. However, Ms. Fernando said that two of the three packages on offer would charge a daily fee regardless of usage, but added that the two packages offered very competitive call charges to compensate for the daily charge. 

Star gazing on Mobitel

The latest venture to bring the old tradition was initiated by Mobitel with the launch of its Star Gazing service. All Mobitel users have to do to read their horoscopes on their phone is to dial 128 for a Sinhala version or 129 for the English version. 

However, the service only provides a weekly forecast. A company release said that Astrologer Jayatissa Dharmadasa's forecast was used for the service.

Infotel Lanka 2000 on Jan. 17

The event which was postponed due to the general elections last year will focus on "IT opportunities for the 21st century". A series of 13 workshops will precede the three-day conference commencing on 13th January. The seminar is expected to attract professionals, corporate executives, researchers, scientists, trainers and general users from the various IT related disciplines. Papers to be presented have already been called for and refereed by a panel comprising local and international IT professionals. 

The four day exhibition in itself would be a front for display of IT products and services to both businesses and traditional users featuring the latest technology in computers, multi-media, e-commerce, virtual reality, networking and the newer IT education opportunities. The morning and afternoon sessions of the first two days would be open only to businessman at a special entrance fee. The last two days would be open to the general public. 

Promotional booth competitions will also be held among the 200 stalls of over 30 exhibitors and 12 principal sponsors. Awards are to be presented in the categories of the most innovative booth, the most futuristic booth and the best product display. An overall winner would also adjudged from the scores obtained in the different categories by stall owners. The previous exhibition drew a crowd of 34,000 people and a near 400 participants for its conference.

eZbiz.lk to take The Wicket.com

"We were very impressed by the site's game-value and content," said a company spokesperson. Since cricket is the most popular game to be followed on the net, The Wicket.com is in a unique position to reach a wide, captive audience on a global scale. The site has the ability to provide quality content as a result of its tie-ups with other net and media providers of sports news.

"Another attractive feature of this site is that it does not base its revenue on an advertising model, making it even more interesting in terms of income generation," added the spokesperson. 

The stake in The Wicket.com is tipped to be substantial, giving eZbiz.lk a wider reach over the net. ezbiz.lk has also tied-up with a number of local Internet service providers in order to capitalise on the high traffic at the various cafes in and around the suburbs. These tie-ups aim to provide not only advertisers but also service providers a wider reach in terms of hits as well as overall net usage.

Cutting electricity bills by 20%

By Akhry Ameer

The Conquest energy saver is a patented product of Condyne Technology Inc., USA manufactured through technical collaboration by Bharat Electronics of India. The unit works on a principle known as 'optimal stop' where its computer logic circuitry records the timing cycles of the thermostat and controls the on/off status. Though specified to work with thermostatically controlled appliances like air-conditioners, refrigerating systems, water coolers, heaters, HVAC systems and heat pumps, its local agents will primarily concentrate on air-conditioners. 

The Conquest Energy Saver is to be introduced to the Sri Lankan market by end of February at a cost of Rs. 9,950.00 + G.S.T per unit with an installation cost of Rs. 450.00 with a one year warranty period. The product has a 10 year proven reliability period in India. According to the Ceylon Electricity Board this is the first such product to be submitted for registration. Local agents Green Globe Marketing Services who propose to market the product through a dealer oriented network and provide technical assistance, estimate that an annual 20% saving of Rs. 9828.00 may be realised on a 18,000 BTU room air-conditioner working for 10 hours a day throughout the year.

Green Globe Marketing Services is a proprietorship registered in May 2000 to market safety and energy saving equipment. Initially they aim to market the energy saver to banks and organisations with computer rooms that function continuously. Green Globe is also in the process of establishing a dealer network for its other product, a radiation protection sticker for cellular phones.
Tea Update

The first sale at the Colombo auction started on a high note. Prices picked up for most grades with the exception of a few poorer made high grown teas. 

Low grown teas continued to fetch attractive prices. Asia Siyaka Commodity Brokers reported that the average of all low grown teas sold for the year 2000 was 144.79, which is a 15 per cent increase YoY. 

Meanwhile, commenting on the new year, Forbes and Walker Tea Brokers said that as world production during the first quarter of any year was normally low, while demand from the major importing countries would continue, Sri Lanka had a good chance of recording improved rupee prices at the auctions. They expect this market trend to continue into the second quarter and are therefore reasonably confidant of satisfactory prices for the first half of 2001. 

However, they fear that a prolonged spell of reasonably high prices would result in producers endeavouring to step up production at the expense of quality. 

"Should this happen, we would have a surfeit of poor teas during the second half of the year on the world market, which could result in a drop in prices for the so called "price teas" which in turn could have a snowballing effect across the entire price spectrum," Forbes and Walker said. 

On the other hand, they say that, if the major producing countries in general and Sri Lanka in particular concentrate on harvesting maximum crop without losing sight of the importance of quality manufacture, the current supply - demand scenario, barring any unforeseen circumstances such as an economic downturn in a major importing country or an outbreak of war in an important tea importing region, should result in another satisfactory year for Sri Lanka's tea industry.
Market report

Market ends on thin volumes

Highlighting the week's activities was the second lowest turnover since August 1996 recorded in the beginning of the week and Thursday's foreign buying in diversified conglomerate John Keells Holdings that gave the market a it only worthwhile boost. 

Otherwise, overall activity remained weak amid a lack of news to attract fresh investments, they said. 

At the close, the All Share Index was up 2.2 points at 449.0, according to provisional data from brokers. 

The Milanka Price Index, which tracks the most liquid and highly capitalized stocks, was 5.7 points higher at 700.5. 

Dominating the session was foreign buying of around 1.3 million shares of John Keells Holdings, which gained 0.25 cts to end at Rs. 37.25. 

Brokers said that a few foreign investors bought the stock on bargain-hunting. 

As a result, net foreign inflow was valued at Rs. 50.9 million out of a total turnover of Rs. 55.9 million Thursday. Total volume was estimated at a paltry Rs. 2.0 million. 

Thursday, select local buying was noted in other blue-chip stocks, but volumes were spread thin, brokers said. 

In the banking sector, DFCC Bank gained Rs. 1 to close at Rs. 81 while National Development Bank shares added 0.25 cts to close at Rs. 42. Commercial Bank also edged 0.25 cts higher to end week at Rs. 93.25. 

Bucking the trend, Caltex Lubricants Ltd. fell 0.75cts to Rs. 45 on some retail selling. 

These one time giants of the trading board have dwindled in value over the year. Officials said their wish for the New Year was for the Stock Market to recover from its present slump.

Demand was weak throughout most of 2000 due to an upsurge in a civil conflict, low liquidity and national elections. Higher foreign sales contributed to a 22% fall in the main index last year. 

Brokers expect activity to pick up by next week as investors return from their year-end holidays, but say that depressed sentiment is likely to keep the market weak in the short term. 

They also fear that foreign investors would return only to exit soon afterwards as speculation of further devaluation looms. 

Some analysts say investors are likely to focus on news of possible peace talks between the government and Tamil Tiger Rebels, which are aimed at ending a 17-year war.

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