hemalsilva
05-21-2007, 12:30 PM
Sri Lanka's 5th Mobile Operator ( Bharti Airtel )
http://www.nordicwirelesswatch.com/newspics/India_Bharti_Airtel_webkuva.jpg
India's top mobile operator Bharti Airtel has forayed into Sri Lanka by
inking an agreement with the island nation's main foreign investment
promotion body to invest 150 million dollars in rolling out operations, a
company official said.
Bharti, which will become the fifth mobile phone operator here, is
currently scouting for locations to set up base stations and talking to
equipment vendors to rollout its network here.
"If things go as planned, we are hoping to launch our services by the end of
this calendar year," Bharti's Director, Legal and Regulatory Affairs,
Narendra Gupta told reporters here.
Airtel had recently got the permission from Sri Lankan Telecom Regulatory
Commission to start 2G and 3G services.
It bagged the license competing against Reliance Communications and Maxis
Telecom.
The Sri Lankan operation would be the first international foray for the
Indian company, with the Bharti hoping to use it as a base to expand into
the South Asian region.
"Sri Lanka is a very promising market for telecom services, with lower phone
penetration at 20 per cent," Gupta said.
The telecommunications field is one of the fastest growing sectors in Sri
Lanka, with the number of mobile phone subscribers rising to 4.5 million by
the end of 2006, according to the island country's Central Bank.
The market is dominated by Telekom Malaysia's Dialog Telekom with over
3.3million subscribers on its network, distantly followed by Mobitel,
Tigo
Lanka and Hutchison (Hutch).
http://www.bhartiairtel.in/index.php?id=1
http://www.nordicwirelesswatch.com/newspics/India_Bharti_Airtel_webkuva.jpg
India's top mobile operator Bharti Airtel has forayed into Sri Lanka by
inking an agreement with the island nation's main foreign investment
promotion body to invest 150 million dollars in rolling out operations, a
company official said.
Bharti, which will become the fifth mobile phone operator here, is
currently scouting for locations to set up base stations and talking to
equipment vendors to rollout its network here.
"If things go as planned, we are hoping to launch our services by the end of
this calendar year," Bharti's Director, Legal and Regulatory Affairs,
Narendra Gupta told reporters here.
Airtel had recently got the permission from Sri Lankan Telecom Regulatory
Commission to start 2G and 3G services.
It bagged the license competing against Reliance Communications and Maxis
Telecom.
The Sri Lankan operation would be the first international foray for the
Indian company, with the Bharti hoping to use it as a base to expand into
the South Asian region.
"Sri Lanka is a very promising market for telecom services, with lower phone
penetration at 20 per cent," Gupta said.
The telecommunications field is one of the fastest growing sectors in Sri
Lanka, with the number of mobile phone subscribers rising to 4.5 million by
the end of 2006, according to the island country's Central Bank.
The market is dominated by Telekom Malaysia's Dialog Telekom with over
3.3million subscribers on its network, distantly followed by Mobitel,
Tigo
Lanka and Hutchison (Hutch).
http://www.bhartiairtel.in/index.php?id=1