Bharti Airtel Says On Track to Launch in Sri Lanka by Year End

India's Bharti Airtel says that it expects to launch its network in neighbouring Sri Lanka by the end of this year - subject to sorting out a long running interconnection dispute with the incumbent operators. Bharti Airtel has accused the incumbents of offering it termination rates which are higher than the rates they offer each other.

"Discussions are going on with the Sri Lankan telecom regulator and the existing operators there relating to the interconnection issue. It should be sorted out shortly," companyĆ's CEO Manoj Kohli told reporters, "We should be in a position to start our operations there before 2008. It is as per our schedule," he said.

The four incumbent operators issued a joint statement though refuting the claims of problems with interconnection. Four operators Dialog, Hutch, Mobitel and Tigo in a joint statement said, "As strong believers in competition and the resulting dividends to consumers and market growth, Sri Lanka's mobile operators welcome additional competition"

Figures from the Mobile World subscriber database estimates that the country ended the first half of this year with just under 9.5 million subscribers - representing a population penetration level of 46%.

Posted to the site on 11th September 2008