COLOMBO: Leading Indian mobile phone operator Bharti Airtel has said it will commence its operations in Sri Lanka this year.
"We are planning to launch in quarter three of this year. We are well within line of the plan," the CEO of Bharti Airtel Lanka Amali Nanayakkara said.
With mobile penetration in Sri Lanka is estimated at around 30 per cent and growing at a rate of approximately 2 million mobile users per annum, Bharti Airtel is looking at cornering a high market share in the next few years, industry experts here said.
It will, however, have to compete with the Telekom Malaysia-owned Dialog Telecom, the largest operator in Sri Lanka), Celltel Lanka owned by Luxembourg-based service provider Millicom International Cellular, Hutchison owned by Hong Kong-based Hutchison Telecommunications and Sri Lankan government-owned Mobitel, they added.
"We welcome competition, because it helps all players to be on their toes. There will be synergies which they bring in very similar to ours and Bharti Airtel will also have expertise and synergies which it will bring to the market. It is going to be a very competitive industry," Nanayakkara said.
Sri Lanka now has 2.7 million fixed access subscribers, 7.9 million mobile and 200,000 internet and email subscribers.
Nanayakkara told the Sunday Times newspaper that Bharti Airtel India had a vision of being the most admired brand in the country.
"Our vision, therefore, is very much in line with that. That requires your services to be competitive as well as preferred. We are gearing ourselves for a launch, which will meet that kind of an expectation. That takes time," she said.
In March Bharti Airtel Lanka, a subsidiary of Indian telecom giant Bharti Airtel, signed a 100-million dollars investment agreement with the Board of Investment (BOI) of Sri Lanka to begin its operations in the Island Country.
The agreement was the second phase of the companys commitment to invest 200 million dollars in Sri Lanka over the next 5 years, the board said.
Nanayakkara said Bharti Airtel Lanka had a good support from all government authorities including the regulator, Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) in Sri Lanka.
The company Lanka acquired a licence last year to provide 2G and 3G services in Sri Lanka and entered into a collaboration with Hong Kong based Huawei Technologies for the purpose.
