Sri Lanka is a small and densely populated country. When the oldest mobile operator (started business in 1989) says that it is adding 40 towers a month, it shows a real hard push to increase coverage in rural Sri Lanka. The reward is reaching 2 million customers and high customer satisfaction ratings, according to the CEO.
Sri Lankan mobile operator Tigo, a unit of Millicom International Cellular, said it had reached two million subscribers in 2008 after heavy investments to expand its network coverage.
A statement from the company, formerly known as Celltel Lanka, attributed the growth to “network expansion, the strength of the brand and excellent customer service.”
“The year 2008 saw heavy investment by the company to expand the network adding an average of 40 towers a month,” the statement said.
“The way we define a customer is the strictest in the country, which is why we normally do not disclose the size of our customer base,” said Tigo chief executive Dumindra Ratnayaka.
2 Comments
Absent
Prof, is it possible to know the Basis of Dialog’s Claim of 5 Mn. Is there any regulation in Sri Lanka which govern subscriber number? What is the situation in other countries?
Rohan Samarajiva
There is no rule anywhere on what constitutes a mobile subscriber. After much discussion, we gave up. We only say mobile SIMs in operation. Different companies have different rules, in some cases like Dialog for different value reloads.
Only place where overcounting has been a serious problem is India, where spectrum is given on the basis of how many subs a company has. In other places overcounting simply dilutes ARPU. So what they gain on one side they lose on the other.
LIRNEasia CEO Helani Galpaya at the Launch of State of India’s Digital Economy Report
The ICRIER-PROSUS Center for Internet and Digital Economy (IPCIDE) had its annual conference in New Delhi on the 1st of June 2026 in New Delhi, India. LIRNEasia CEO Helani Galpaya participated in the opening panel and discussed the report.
Harnessing Data for Democratic Development in South and Southeast Asia: South Korea Country Report
This report on data protection in South Korea is part of the “Harnessing Data for Democratic Development in South and Southeast Asia” (D4DAsia) project, which aims, inter alia, to create and mobilize new knowledge about the tensions, gaps, and evolution of the data governance ecosystem, taking into account both formal and informal policies and practices. This report presents a focused case study of South Korea’s evolving data protection framework and its efforts to balance strong privacy protections with data-driven innovation
Harnessing Data for Democratic Development in South and Southeast Asia: Nepal Country Report
This report on data governance in Nepal is part of the “Harnessing Data for Democratic Development in South and Southeast Asia” (D4DAsia) project, which aims, inter alia, to create and mobilize new knowledge about the tensions, gaps, and evolution of the data governance ecosystem, taking into account both formal and informal policies and practices. The report provides an overview of Nepal’s constitutional and governance framework and examines the laws, policies, and institutional arrangements that shape the collection, processing, storage, access, and sharing of data.
Links
User Login
Themes
Social
Twitter
Facebook
RSS Feed
Contact
9A 1/1, Balcombe Place
Colombo 08
Sri Lanka
+94 (0)11 267 1160
+94 (0)11 267 5212
info [at] lirneasia [dot] net
Copyright © 2026 LIRNEasia
a regional ICT policy and regulation think tank active across the Asia Pacific