Seventy two out of 100 own phones

Lakshmi de Silva

The growth in the telecommunication sector during the last year with telephone provider companies entering into keen competition in the market offering packages with discounts witness an unprecedented 71.9 percent per 100 persons owning telephones in 2008, a Department of Census and Statistics report said. During 2007 the density of telephones was 53.6 per 100 persons, it stated.

The mobile phone density per 100 people increased from 39.9 in 2007 to 54.8 per 11 people last year. The density of land phones per 100 people in 2007 was 13.7 but it had increased to 17.1 per 100 persons during 2008 and it was an increase of 45.5 percent in comparison to the previous year, the report stated.

Among the packages offered was the Upahara package offered to 165,000 public servants.