Sri Lanka becomes first country in South Asia to roll out 4G mobile network

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Mar 28, 2013 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's Dialog Axiata has paid 3.2 billion rupees to buy a 10Mega Hertz block of spectrum in the 1,800MHz band which can be used for fourth generation high speed mobile broadband, telecom regulator Anusha Pelpita said.

Mobitel and Etisalat had also participated in the spectrum auction by Sri Lanka Telecommunications Regulatory Commission and Dialog Axiata outbid the nearest rival by 2.0 billion rupees.

"The auction was done by sealed bids and the differences in bids, showing that it was a transparent process," Pelpita said.

He said operators are expected to use it for fourth generation LTE services.

Dialog Axiata already had 15MHz in the 1,800 band. Mobitel and 20MHz, Etisalat, Hutch, Airtel and another firm had 7.5MHz each but it was in court.

The frequencies are in paired bands of 75MHz for uplink and downlink, which means the operator was actually occupying double the spectrum in the band which span 1,700 and 1,800 MHz.

The auction had set a floor price of 800 million rupees for the frequency block, deleted.lk a Sinhalese language news portal which broke the story said.http://lbo.lk/news/Sri_Lanka_Dialog_buys_1,800MHz_band_spectrum_for_Rs3.2bn/855311875

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COLOMBO, March 28 | Thu Mar 28, 2013 5:25am EDT
(Reuters) - Sri Lanka's top mobile phone operator Dialog Axiata will roll out the country's first mobile 4G LTE network, sealing the deal with a 3.2 billion Sri Lanka rupees ($25.22 million) bid at auction, authorities said on Thursday.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC), which auctioned its mobile 4G LTE spectrum at a base price of 800 million rupees, said the subsidiary of Malaysia's Axiata had beaten two local rivals.

"We have auctioned 10Mh band in the 1,800 spectrum and the highest bidder was Dialog," said TRC Director General Anusha Palpita.

Dialog dominates the local telecoms market, accounting for 55 percent of revenue market share. ($1 = 126.8750 Sri Lanka rupees) (Reporting by Ranga Sirilal; Editing by Shihar Aneez)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/28/srilanka-dialog-idUSL3N0CK7R420130328

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Mar 28, 2013 (LBO) - Sri Lanka is allowing spectrum sharing and domestic roaming to promote shared resources and cut costs so that broadband tariffs can be kept low, the telecom regulator said.

"We are allowing spectrum sharing," director general of the telecommunications regulatory commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) Anusha Pelpita said.
"We will not regulate their tariffs but they will have to apply to us. This will help keep costs down and subscribers will get lower tariffs."

Domestic roaming has already been recently permitted and Airtel and Etisalat have started to allow customers to roam on each others' network, he said.

Dialog on Thursday paid 3.2 billion rupees for a 10MegaHertz paired frequencies block in the 1800MHz band paying 2.0 billion rupees higher than the next bidder, in an auction which had a floor price of 3.2 billion rupees.

Pelpita said the frequencies are expected to be used in the rollout of fourth generation LTE (long term evolution) high speed mobile broadband services.

The 1800 spectrum was allocated for GSM (2G) services by the International Telecommunications Unions, but can be used for 4G.

The 75MHz of paired bandwidth in the frequency band (or 150MHz in the band which runs from 1700 through 1800 MHz has now been allocated to operators.

Dialog Already had a 15MHz block, Mobitel had 20, Etisalat, Hutch and Airtel each had 7.5MHz each and another 7.5MHz allocated to a firm which did not have a network was in court.

Except for the 7.5MHz which was in dispute the entire band has now been allocated to operators, he said.

"Spectrum sharing will allow more efficient use of the resource," Pelpita said.

Operators can set their own prices, but those planning to share spectrum must first apply to the Telecom Regulatory Commission, he said.

In Sri Lanka the 900MHz band, which is used for mobile broadband elsewhere is occupied by television broadcasters, but the band may become free after digital broadcasting starts Pelpita said.

Unlike other countries which raised billions of dollars Sri Lanka has a policy of keeping frequency fees relatively low.

Pelpita said he wanted to promote broadband use and in Sri Lanka fixed broadband penetration was low, though mobile was picking up.

"We have allowed frequency sharing because that will also keep costs down, so that retail tariffs will be more affordable," he said.

"Domestic roaming will also reduce costs as operators can save on network expenditure."

Sri Lanka Telecom, which had been licensed to build the national telecom backbone, has to allow other operators to use the pipes on regulated tariffs.
http://lbo.lk/news/Sri_Lanka_allows_spectrum_sharing,_domestic_roaming_to_cut_costs:_regulator/2086485238

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COLOMBO: Sri Lanka auctioned a block of airwaves to become the first country in South Asia to roll out a full nationwide mobile fourth-generation (4G) network, a top official said Friday.

Anusha Palpita, the Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, said he allocated the airwaves to Sri Lanka's largest cellular operator Dialog Axiata for $26.25 million on Thursday.

He said Dialog, the Sri Lanka unit of Malaysia's Axiata, will roll out a 4G mobile network that will allow users to download content from the Internet at speeds four to five times faster than the currently available 3G.

"We will be South Asia's first with a (country-wide) mobile 4G/LTE (Long Term Evolution) internatnetwork," Palpita said.

Right now, Sri Lanka already has fixed-line telephone 4G in key cities, but the new mobile 4G network will allow users to access high-speed Internet with their hand-held devices across the country.
The 4G network is expected to be rolled out "shortly", said Palpita, noting the infrastructure is already in place.

He added that the money raised from the spectrum sale Thursday was the highest ever earned from an auction of airwaves.

Sri Lanka became the first country in South Asia to introduce mobile phones in 1989 and the first to roll out a 3G network in 2004.

But Palpita said that a vast majority of mobile phones in the country were still older 2G handsets.

The five mobile phone operators in Sri Lanka are being encouraged to switch over to newer technology for its increasing mobile phone connections, which now outnumber its population of 20 million, he said.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international-business/sri-lanka-becomes-first-country-in-south-asia-to-roll-out-4g-mobile-network/articleshow/19274888.cms?

CSE.SAS · 5 DIALOG AXIATA - CORPORATE DISCLOSURE 01-04-2013 Mon Apr 01, 2013 9:12 am

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Sri Lanka becomes first country in South Asia to roll out 4G mobile network

1 Sri Lanka Dialog buys 1,800MHz band spectrum for Rs3.2bn Thu Mar 28, 2013 6:42 pm

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2 Sri Lanka's Dialog Axiata wins 4G spectrum for $25 mln-official Thu Mar 28, 2013 7:23 pm

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3 Sri Lanka allows spectrum sharing, domestic roaming to cut costs: regulator Thu Mar 28, 2013 7:31 pm

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