Fiber network in Jaffna?

Posted on March 10, 2006 / 3 Comments

From the Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka) of 10 March 2006:

“Minister Bogollagama also noted that the government was planning to construct a fibre optic network in Jaffna to introduce the Business Process Outsourcing industry to the area.”

Jaffna is currently connected to the rest of Sri Lanka and the world by satellite. It is intriguing to speculate how the Minister’s fiber optic network will function and who will manage it.

One assumes that for it to be of use for the BPO industry, the Minister’s fiber will have to connect to another fiber somewhere. Will this be overland, along the A9 and through LTTE controlled territory or undersea?

3 Comments

N.P.Perera
March 11, 2006, 9:28 am
FIBER NETWORK IN JAFFNA

It is heartening to note that the learned men of Sri Lanka are blind to news and select articles to create their own fantasy tales.

It was announced in Februray by SLT that they are expending into Jaffna by Aerial Fiber cables whch will be connected to Northern ring which is being drawn up.

Obviuosly being a Govenment entity having a share of around 49% it could be termed as a govenment initiative.

So better to contact SLT and get more details about this project.
samarajiva
March 11, 2006, 10:21 am
Thank you for the information. However, there is a difference between an announcement and what is actually on the ground.

My question was whether the fiber (aerial or not was not specified) will go across LTTE-held territory or whether it will be an undersea cable. Since one does not generally run aerial cable over the sea, Mr Perera’s response seems to suggest that it has been or will be laid across LTTE held territory..

If SLTL has installed aerial fiber across LTTE territory between February and now, one can be very optimistic not only about SLTL’s efficiency but also about the state of the government-LTTE negotiations.

Note: Jaffna was for a long time connected solely by satellite. The 500 ft microwave tower commissioned in 2005 by Dialog and SLTL is likely to have supplemented this medium in the past year.
janantha
March 26, 2006, 2:09 am
I think this is a great challenge for the SLT as they have several hurdles ahead of them. What they can do is extend the optic fibre upto the safest area(lowest risk factor) and then go wireless from there connecting to other regions beyond govt access than risking to implement cabling work.