Dialing Now

Incumbent fixed line operator Sri Lanka Telecom says it could be issued with a CDMA wilress services license as early as Thursday. Incumbent fixed line operator Sri Lanka Telecom says it could be issued with a CDMA wilress services license as early as Thursday. Telecom Chairman Anil Obeyesekere told reporters in Colombo on Tuesday that it would rollout wireless network immediately after receiving the regulatory go-ahead.

Sri Lanka Telecom is the last of the three fixed line operators to receive the go ahead to use CDMA to roll out its network despite already having some 4 MHz of spectrum in the 800 MHz range. (read Clean Air for more on the spectrum reallocation)

Obeyesekere said that the CDMA network would target some 450,000 customers in four years.

The deal also requires Sri Lanka Telecom to give up part of its spectrum under a frequency reallocation process – under which Suntel and Lanka Bell were also allocated spectrum previously allocated to SLT’s cellular subsidiary Mobitel.

Telecommunications ministry officials