World Telecommunications Day:

Airtel Lanka reaffirms commitment to quality and customer excellence

Currently a major player in the Sri Lankan Telecom Industry, Airtel Lanka yesterday celebrated the occasion of World Telecom Day by announcing its commitment to connecting the country with advanced technological inputs and better services for nationwide users. Every year on 17th May, World Telecom Day is celebrated worldwide.

Commenting on this commitment, the CEO/MD of Airtel Lanka, Suren Goonewardene said, “World Telecom day is a significant occasion for the telecom service providers throughout the world. This day marks the establishment of International Telecommunication Union, but is a significant day for global telecom service providers too. To celebrate the spirit of the occasion, we are happy to announce that for the financial year 2012/13 we plan on increasing our 3G data coverage while continuing to aggressively expand our total network coverage by increasing the number of towers we have. We are also converting all our networks to HSDPA+ technology and plan on changing our systems and processes to the latest technology. We expect this move to greatly benefit our customers as access to our products and services becomes both easier and faster.”

Airtel Lanka has prided itself on being a catalyst of change in Sri Lanka’s telecommunications industry, as its arrival into Sri Lanka in January 2009 paved the way for the launch of several new services to the country. These included the lowest rates for voice services, per second billing, the lowest IDD rates and the concept of no hidden costs, all of which contributed to making telecommunication services cheaper and more accessible to all Sri Lankans.

With an investment of over $ 300 million in its Sri Lanka operations, Airtel Lanka have set up over 1500 base stations to date to support its 2G network. Earlier this year, Airtel was ranked as the fastest mobile broadband provider by the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka and has continued to be the leaders in terms of speed in mobile broadband to date. Goonewardene also went on to add that, for the last financial year the company has shown steady growth in its gross revenue, primarily due to data revenue growth and the increase of minutes of usage.

According to him despite entering Sri Lanka just four years ago, Airtel Lanka has already achieved great things - offering products and services that are innovative, affordable and relevant for customers in Sri Lanka – such as the Magic Music Card - a first for Sri Lanka’s telecommunication industry and even the My Airtel Service where customers can inform callers of their mood/status without having to answer the call. They also announced a partnership with Tranglo recently whereby local customers can receive talk time from friends and relatives living abroad.