Prior to suspension of services, SLT was charging Rs18,400 for a CDMA connection, which the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRC) objected and set a March 20 deadline to cut prices to Rs12,000.

"In view of above, Sri Lanka Telecom is reluctantly compelled to suspend the provisioning of new SLT Citylink CDMA connections forthwith and regrets the inconvenience caused to the general public in this regard," SLT said in a statement. CDMA, a low cost wireless technology, is commonly used by operators worldwide for faster mobile phone connections.

In Sri Lanka CDMA is being used to provide fixed-line access, making telephony accessible and affordable to all, even in the most far flung regions.

SLT, which joined the CDMA race after private operators Suntel and Lanka Bell, has sold around 100,000 connections to date.

The private operators collectively have sold around 150,000 connections, according to the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission.

The AAA (sri) rated telco giant controls 78 percent of Sri Lanka's fixed-line market and 15 percent of the cellular market.

Japans Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. or NTT controls 35.2 percent of SLT, the Sri Lankan government owns 49.5 percent and the public 15.3 percent.

-LBO Newsdesk: LBOEmail@vanguardlk.com