Former Mobitel CEO Suren Amarasekera appointed to SLT director board

Telecom industry veteran and former Mobitel CEO Suren Amarasekera has been appointed to the board of Sri Lanka Telecom PLC, with effect from December 9, 2022.

Amarasekera has expertise in the telecom industry spanning 29 years. He has been associated with globally renowned telcos: Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (SingTel) in Singapore and Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Telecom’s Mobitel, Maxis Berhad in Malaysia, Aircel Ltd in India and Ncell Axiata in Nepal.
Amarasekera’s strong cultural adaptation skills have been greatly honed with in-depth multi-market work exposure gained during multiyear stints in Singapore, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, India and Nepal.

He has provided advisory services in ICT and digital transformation (Tactile Internet, 5G/6G and SuperApps) since 2020. During 2017-2019, he was Strategic Projects Director, South Asia Region with Axiata Group Berhad.
He was appointed as MD/CEO of Ncell Axiata in July 2017. He widened Ncell’s market leadership and led the digital transformation that further elevated the company’s position with US $ 575 million annual turnover and an EBITDA margin of 60 percent.

From 2014-2017, Amarasekera served as Chief Enterprise Officer of Aircel Ltd, with responsibility for 4G LTE services, enterprise, wholesale and carrier businesses and notably facilitated the sale of 20 MHz of Aircel’s 4G spectrum in eight circles for approximately US $ 600 million as a debt-reduction mechanism.

He served as EVP and Joint COO of Maxis Berhad, Malaysia from 2011-2013 and guided the company to be the first to commercially launch 4G in Malaysia and had overall P&L management with annual turnover of MYR 9 billion and an EBITDA margin of 50 percent. He served as a Board Member of the Bridge Alliance, Singapore, serving over 750 million customers.

From 2005-2011, Amarasekera was CEO of Mobitel, propelling the company to achieve revenue market share growth from 12 percent to over 26 percent, making Mobitel rank second in a fiercely competitive market.

He worked at Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) in Singapore from 1999-2005 in numerous Senior Management capacities and prior to that from 1992-1998 was among the first non-Singaporeans to head an overseas operation. He was Managing Director of Lanka Communication Services and Lanka Cellular Services and he was instrumental in its successful divestiture of Call Link, effecting a smooth transition to Hutchinson in August 1997.
He holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Computer Systems Engineering from Syracuse University, New York, USA and an MBA from University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, Illinois, USA.

With the latest appointments, the board of directors of Sri Lanka Telecom PLC comprises Chairman Rohan Fernando, L. Seneviratne, C.C. Beng, L. Paratz, M. Weerakoon, R. Rubasinghe, U.K.K. Vivekananda, V.K. Arulampalam and S.J. Amarasekera.