Airtel Lanka, a Sri Lankan operator and subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, this week announced that it has been awarded 4G spectrum in the 850MHz band.
The spectrum, awarded by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL), means, the company says, that it will soon launch high-speed mobile broadband services across the country.
The Airtel Lanka release announcing the award suggests that, operating in what it calls ‘the efficient 850MHz band’, which has higher signal propagation, will mean a superior 4G network experience for customers, with wider network availability and better indoor coverage.
Commenting on the spectrum allocation, Airtel Lanka CEO and managing director Ashish Chandra said: "We are thankful to the government of Sri Lanka and the TRCSL for allotting us the 4G spectrum.”
He also may have been referring indirectly to the effects of the recent pandemic when he added: “The 850MHz band will enable us to deliver a truly differentiated high-speed network experience to our customers with superior indoor coverage, which is a must in today’s scenario of work from home and online education.”
Airtel Lanka began commercial operations in 2009. In a highly competitive market its subscriber base was estimated in 2018 at around 3 million (the country’s population is around 22 million), behind its three competitors Dialog, Hutch and Mobitel.
