Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) announced the appointment of K.A. Kiththi Perera as SLT's new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) while M.B.P. Fernandez was appointed as the Chief Operating Officer (COO).
Perera joined SLT in 1994 and he played significant leadership roles in various departments with increasing responsibilities for nearly 24 years.
He earned a Masters in Engineering from the University of Moratuwa in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering and is a Chartered Engineer of the Engineering Council (UK) and Institution of Engineering and Technology (UK).
As a key member of its initial management team, he helped in planning, designing and developing of data access networks based on G.SHDSL, metro ethernet and digital radio access technologies. In 2005, SLT appointed Perera as Project Manager of Bharat Lanka Submarine Cable System project where he involved in high level design of first repeaterless submarine cable system (with RA amplifiers and DWDM technology) in South Asia.
As a professional in telecommunication industry, he achieved many awards including the Gold Award (for senior management category) in SLT Transformers Awards in 2014. He also represented SLT in many national and international fora and professional bodies.
Perera has been a Non-Executive Director of Sri Lanka Telecom (Services) Ltd., since 2007.
Meanwhile, new COO of SLT, M.B.P. Fernandez holds a BSc (Eng.) in Electronics and Telecommunications from the University of Moratuwa and an MBA from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of The Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka.
Fernandez joined SLT in 1991. Following his roles in various multinational telecommunication organizations, he has held a string of senior positions within SLT, culminating to his current position as the Chief Operating Officer. In this role, he oversees the entire planning, operation, sales and maintenance of SLT network and projects of SLT in Sri Lanka. In addition, he has overseen the design implementation and operation of SLT network and projects of SLT in Sri Lanka.
He has played a leading role for planning and deploying very large scale programmes for SLT network transformation. New Generation Network (NGO), Sri Lanka Backbone Network (SLBN), Fiber to The Home (FITH). LTE(4G), National Broadband Programme (i-Sri Lanka), National Data Centre, and Submarine Cable Systerms are some of the flagship projects in which he made his contributions felt. Fernandez is a permanent member of the Technical Subcommittee of SLT since 2011 and a member of the Senior Tender Board.