Malaysia’s telecom giant Axiata Group Bhd’s, Sri Lankan subsidiary Dialog Axiata Plc has announced to form Dialog Business Services (Pvt) Ltd (DBS), a company that will provide business process outsourcing (BPO) services according to Deal Street Asia.

In an announcement at Bursa Malaysia on Wednesday, Axiata said that it has already informed Colombo Stock Exchange on the new BPO firm that it formed on Tuesday. Dialog Axiata, an 83.3 per cent-owned subsidiary of Axiata is headquartered in Colombo and is Sri Lanka’s largest telecommunications service provider and commands at least 50 per cent of the Sri Lankan mobile market.

The new company, “DBS was incorporated with a stated capital of LKR10. The nature of business to be carried by DBS is to carry out the business of providing Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services including call center services,” Axiata said in its announcement. The incorporation of a BPO business in Sri Lanka is not expected to have any material effect on the earning and net assets of Axiata for financial year ending December 31, 2016 it said.

Axiata’s move is in line with other regional players who are shown interest in Sri Lankan BPO industry as Colombo-government has been backing the BPO industry for employment generation in suburban and rural areas. Targetting to make Sri Lanka an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) hub, the government established ICT centres throughout the country with the view to improving awareness in IT.