Malaysia's Axiata Group has welcomed the decision by the Malaysian and Sri Lankan governments to work to resolve a long-standing dispute over the renewal of the company's Sri Lankan broadband license.
The Sri Lankan government has proposed a mechanism for resolving the dispute involving both countries appointing two representatives tasked with resolving the dispute as soon as possible, and its Malaysian counterpart has agreed.
The renewal application for Axiata's Sri Lankan subsidiary Dialog Axiata has been pending for around 30 months.
“Axiata and Dialog wish to record their utmost gratitude to both the Government of Sri Lanka and the Government of Malaysia for assisting to resolve the issue of Dialog’s broadband network license renewal, one of Dialog’s five main business licenses, for the best interest of Sri Lanka’s telecommunications sector,” Axiata Group said in a statement.
“Axiata is truly grateful to our prime minister, YAB Dato Sri Mohd. Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak, for his personal and active support of our international investments in general, and, for helping to resolve the above issue.”
Resolution of the dispute would pave the way for Dialog Axiata to complete its delayed $300 million investment in expanding its operations. Axiata has invested over $2.2 billion in its Sri Lankan operations, making it the single largest foreign direct investment in the nation.