Financial Times

SLT ends Sigiri card deal
Sri Lanka Telecom has ended its Sigiri card contract with Premier Communications International (PCI) Ltd. from which it has been trying to recover arrears for calls from the UK.

A senior SLT official said the company plans to file legal action against PCI to recover the arrears, now amounting to $9.5 million. SLT ended its business with PCI after PCI did not appeal against a Colombo Commercial High Court ruling dismissing two interim injunctions sought by PCI restraining SLT from terminating its Sigiri card contract and all business between the two parties.

The court also dismissed an enjoining order that prevented SLT from ending its business with PCI. The matter went to court after SLT sought to terminate its contract with PCI as the latter had failed to pay its arrears.

Sri Lanka Telecom maintained that the enjoining order compelled SLT to continue providing services worth about Rs 90 million a month on unsecured credit terms to PCI which had already defaulted on payment.

SLT had argued that losses would continue to mount unless the enjoining orders are discharged, and that the prospect of eventually recovering the total monies payable by PCI were remote.

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