Mobile phone connections up by 5.4 % in 2011

Mobile telephone users in Sri Lanka have increased rapidly in 2011 with more than 105 telephone connections for 100 people, a spokesman said on Tuesday.

According to a Central Bank annual report, telephone connections have increased 5.4 percent and the total connection had increased to 21.9 million by the end of 2011, a spokesman from the Central Bank said.

"There is also a considerable increase in internet connections as new connections have increased by four percent over the year 2011," he said.

He said the increase in the mobile phone usage in the country is partly due to the end of the three decades civil war in the northern and eastern parts of the country.

Many of the new connections are obtained by those who were in former war affected parts of the country and the competition in the mobile telephone connection providers has also increased the number of new connections in the country.

A recent study also revealed that the use of mobile phones has grown

rapidly among low income earners in Sri Lanka and mobile phones has become an almost indispensable business tool among small entrepreneurs and farmers.