Sri Lanka - Mobile Communications, Broadcasting and Forecasts

Synopsis

The highly competitive mobile market in Sri Lanka had been running with a healthy overall annual growth rate for some years. With mobile penetration is still relatively low compared with other more developed Asian markets, having reached 87% by the middle of 2011, the strong annual growth has moderated a little and was continuing at around 20%. The market has undoubtedly benefited from its liberalisation and the competition that came with four operators seriously battling it out for market share. This is despite one of these – Dialog Telekom – still clinging to a large slice (still around 40% by mid-2011) of the market. The number of mobile operators increased to five with Bharti Airtel Lanka launching a mobile service in 2009. Bharti hit the market hard, signing up one million subscribers in just six months. This report presents an overview of mobile phone services in Sri Lanka. The country’s TV broadcasting sector is also briefly reviewed.

Key developments:

Etisalat Sri Lanka announced commercial launch of an HSPA+ network. Dialog Axiata launched a pilot 4G LTE mobile broadband network in Colombo. Mobitel carried out a trial of LTE technology.

Companies covered in this report include:

SLT, Mobitel, Dialog Axiata (formerly Dialog Telekom); Etisalat Sri Lanka (formerly Tigo); Hutchison Lanka; Bharti Airtel Lanka; MTN Networks.

1. Synopsis
2. Mobile Communications
- 2.1 Overview of Sri Lanka’s mobile market
- 2.2 Mobile statistics
- 2.3 Forecasts – mobile services – 2015; 2020
- 2.4 Third Generation (3G) mobile
  - 2.4.1 Background
  - 2.4.2 Licences and service launch
  - 2.4.3 Development of 3G
- 2.5 Fourth Generation (4G) / Long Term Evolution (LTE)
3. Major mobile operators
- 3.1 Dialog Axiata (formerly Dialog Telekom)
  - 3.1.1 Company overview
  - 3.1.2 Company statistics
  - 3.1.3 Financials – 2008 - 2011
  - 3.1.4 Products and services
  - 3.1.5 Development of 3G
- 3.2 Mobitel
  - 3.2.1 Company overview
  - 3.2.2 Financials – 2009/11
  - 3.2.3 Products and services
  - 3.2.4 Development of 3G
- 3.3 Etisalat Sri Lanka (formerly Tigo)
- 3.4 Hutchison Lanka
- 3.5 Bharti Airtel Lanka
  - 3.5.1 Development of 3G
- 3.6 Satellite mobile
  - 3.6.1 MTN Networks
  - 3.6.2 Mobitel
  - 3.6.3 Dialog Telekom
4. Broadcasting
- 4.1 Market overview
- 4.2 Regulatory environment
- 4.3 Internet Protocol TV (IPTV)
- 4.4 Cable and pay TV
  - 4.4.1 Comet Cable
  - 4.4.2 Dialog TV (DTV)
  - 4.4.3 TV & Radio Network (Pvt) Ltd
- 4.5 Free-to-Air (FTA) TV
5. Notes on forecasting
6. Related reports

Table 1 – Mobile subscribers, annual change and penetration – 1995 - 2012
Table 2 – Mobile operator market share based on subscribers – 2010
Table 3 – Mobile operators, subscribers and annual change – 2010
Table 4 – Forecast mobile subscribers and penetration rate – 2015; 2020
Table 5 – 3G mobile operators and subscribers – March 2009
Table 6 – Dialog Axiata subscribers and market share – 2004 - 2010
Table 7 – Dialog Axiata prepaid subscribers – 2004 - 2010
Table 8 – Dialog Axiata ARPU – postpaid, prepaid and blended – 2004 - 2005; 2007 - 2010
Table 9 – Mobitel subscribers and market share – 2004 - 2011
Table 10 – Etisalat Sri Lanka subscribers - 2004 - 2010
Table 11 – Hutchison Lanka subscribers and market share – 2006 - 2010
Table 12 – Bharti Airtel Lanka subscribers and market share – 2009 - 2010
Table 13 – Key broadcasting statistics – 2010
Table 14 – DTV’s DTH subscribers – 2008 - 2010