Broad Band

CHENNAI, Nov 06, 2009 (LBO) – Despite improving quality, Sri Lankan fixed and mobile broadband internet users receive less bandwidth than 'advertised', while web hosting costs are also higher than developed countries, a telecom study has revealed. "It's very clear that broadband speeds advertised by providers were more than what they could offer," Chanuka Wattegama, senior research manager at LIRNEasia said in Chennai, releasing the results of a study on South Asian broadband usage.

"Even though some had offered very high speeds on mobile broadband they could only offer a fraction of it."

Digital Divide

LIRNEasia has ongoing research on South Asian broadband services, where data is collected every six months. Wattegama said quality has improved since the study started in 2007.

High speed internet connectivity in Sri Lanka is offered by fixed line operator Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), its subsidiary, celco Mobitel and Dialog Telekom, another celco owned by Axiata of Malaysia.

The research showed that by March 2008, Sri Lanka's two main broadband operators could only deliver 20 percent of the two mega bytes per second (mbps) marketed. "We reported these results to the Institute of Engineers (of Sri Lanka), Dialog Broad Ba