Saarc: Sri Lanka Takes a Lead

Sri Lanka, the South Asian island nation is leading the way in the telecom technology amongst Saarc nations because of the state-of-the-art technology being implemented by the operators. The launch of the 4th generation LTE network bestowing a gigantic speed of 100 Mbps in the capital, Colombo, is a classic example of how the telecom technology has reached dizzy heights in the country.

The strict norms being adopted by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of Sri Lanka (TRCS) like the guidelines on mobile broadband advertising speeds are making the Lankans cheer for getting what they are paying for.

Mobile

The mobile services in the country are run by 5 operators-Hutchinson Telecommunications Lanka, Mobitel, Dialog Axiata PLC, Etisalat Lanka, and Bharti airtel Lanka. The cellular subscriber base has grown eloquently in the nation reaching 17.3 mn as of December 2010 from 14 mn in December 2009 registering a significant growth of 23%.

Dialog Axiata PLC boasts of the largest cellular network and the biggest subscriber base in the country. The company generated a revenue of LKR 41,423 mn by the end of December 2010 compared to LKR 36,246 mn in December 2009 leading to a growth of 14%.

The company's business is into mobile telephony services and external gateway operations and holds a customer base of 6.8 mn in the cellular segment out of which 6,052,000 are prepaid customers and 748,000 belongs to postpaid services as of December 2010.

Mobitel is the country's national mobile services provider. The company got acquired by Sri Lanka telecom in 2002 and since then it took the track of rapid advancement in technology and became the first operator to launch the super 3.5G HSPA technology in South Asia in 2007. The company launched its 300th base station just after 18 months of its launch and was also the first one to successfully demonstrate the 4th generation LTE network achieving a speed of 96 Mbps.

Etisalat Lanka launched its operations in 1989 and now is fully owned and operated by Telecom Etisalat Telecommunications in UAE. The company recently joined the group of service providers providing a LTE-ready 3.75G network.The company inaugurated Sri Lanka's first ever Etisalat BlackBerry care center which offers BlackBerry and other Etisalat services like software upgrades, push service books, etc.

Hutchison Telecom Lanka initiated its GSM services in 2004 and since then the company has been significantly investing to fullfil its aim of being a nationwide service provider in the country. The company is a member of Hutchison Asia Telecom which runs mobile telecommunications operation in the egressing markets of Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia.

One amongst the other operators, Bharti airtel Lanka is an auxiliary of Bharti airtel which is one of Asia's leading service providers with a subscriber base of 100 mn. The company set out its operations in Sri Lanka on January 12, 2009, and got the tag of the fastest operator to reach the 1 mn customers' mark in the nation. The company is now providing services in Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka as well and has connected all the major highways throught the country with its network.

Fixed and Broadband

On the fixed front, the numbers have increased though not in humongous format but after a negative growth and it's a sign of relief for the fixed phone industry. The total number of fixed phone subscribers in the country stood at 3.6 mn as of December 2010 with a growth of 4%.

There are 4 operators in the country providing fixed phone services-Sri Lanka Telecom PLC, Suntel, Lanka Bell, and Dialog Broadband networks.

Sri Lanka telecom is one amongst the most valuable blue chip companies of the country and is even listed on the Colombo stock exchange.The company got the prestigious status of being the first listed company to achieve a revenue of `50.25 bn in the year December 2009-10.

The company launched a project by the name i-Sri Lanka which upgraded and expanded the fiber network resulting in the reduction of the length of the copper connections with notable increase in reliability, quality, and broadband data speeds along with low maintenance cost.

The operator Suntel is the second largest fixed phone operator and became the first fixed telephone operator to receive the international recognized ISO 9001:2000 quality certification.

The company commenced its operations in December 1996 and has a customer base of about 0.6 mn. The company use technologies like CDMA 20001x, DECT, corDECT, etc.

Lanka Bell got established in 1997 as the only largest BOI company in the country and then was acquired by a private firm Milford Holdings in 2005. The operator provides the country's largest CDMA fixed line service and is the only wholly Sri Lankan owned company in the telecommunications sector having a subscriber base of 1.2 mn. It was the first company to launch the prepaid plan for fixed phone services.

Dialog, on the other hand, along with providing cellular services is the third largest fixed phone service provider in the country as well and provides the cheapest call rates amongst other CDMA providers in the country. The company has a fixed line coverage across the country and holds a subscriber base of 189,000.

The broadband subscribers have grown massively to 574,000 attaining a 3-digit growth of 129% compared to FY10. The TRCS has taken aggressive steps to ensure that the broadband operators provide the best of the services to consumers.

The country is much ahead than the other Saarc nations in terms of broadband technology. Recently Dialog initiated its pilot 4G LTE network in several key zones of the capital city Colombo which will provide a breath-taking speed of 100 Mbps in the stationery mode and 30-40 Mbps while being mobile. This is a tremendous achievement in the Sri Lankan telecom industry authenticating that Sri Lanka is leading the Saarc nations in broadband technology. The launch of super 3.5G HSPA by Mobitel in 2007 when other Saarc nations were dreaming about implementing the 3G service, adds to this fact.

The telecom giant in the country, Dialog, has opened up Wi-Fi hotspots in several locations like 5-star hotels, huge shopping malls, and restaurants, thereby increasing the convenience of the Lankans.

The company uses the WiMax technology in the fixed broadband services providing a maximum bandwidth of 10 Mbps and provide value added services in it like auto attendant, instant call group, hunt group, etc.

On the other hand, Mobitel was the first company to launch 3.5G services in the country and South Asia. It even stood first in South Asia to trial a network based on 4G technology.

SLTnet is the largest internet service provider in the country and provide services for the entire community in Sri Lanka. The company provides internet services to most of the other internet service providers and has a 75% market share in the internet market.

There are many other small-scale operators as well providing broadband services in the country like Electroteks, Lanka Internet Service, Eureka Technology Partners, etc. All of these are involved in a cut-throat competition to expand in the industry.

The TRCS has laid strict norms for the broadband service providers in the island and has taken several initiatives to encourage the industry. The authority stressed on lowering the prices as well improving the quality of broadband services by implementing a mechanism which turned out to be successful.

The commission permitted Sri Lanka telecom and Dialog to introduce Fair Usage Policy (FUP) with which the customers get a opportunity to switch from their existing unlimited internet plan to a new one with FUP at a reduced rental allowing operators to provide better quality of services to their subscribers.

The various guidelines issued by TRCS for all the operators like publishing all broadband and internet packages on a separator web portal along with their coverage area, tariff, etc, and informing the subscribers immediately about the failure resulting in the interruption of services as well as providing contact information on the website are turning out to be a great boon for the service consumers.

Besides ensuring the regulation of services, TRCS moved a step ahead by issuing guidelines on advertising speeds of mobile broadband services and conducting field tests after receiving a complaint from the customers that the speed advertised by the providers is far away from the actual speed received by them.

The guidelines talk about not to advertise broadband packages without specifying the technology used, advertising only those speeds which are realistic and achievable, and providing genuine information to the consumers while advertising any realistic speed above 3.6 Mbps. The commission publishes results of broadband speed test every month to ascertain that the subscribers get what they have been told.

The reduction of international backbone and landing station charges recently by Sri Lanka telecom has helped other internet service providers to provide services with more quality and affordability.

The plan of implementing MNP by the regulator is being felt unnecessarily by some operators but the TRCS is trying its best to join the team of nations providing MNP services.

The future of telecom in Sri Lanka seems phenomenal. The launch of 4G LTE network in the country is really an inspiration for the Saarc countries. It's time to see that how the newly launched technology will evolve amongst the consumers and help the country's economic growth and how the other Saarc countries will try to be at par with the technology in the country.

Rimit Singh
rimits@cybermedia.co.in