One third of mobile phones shipped to Sri Lanka are multi-SIM?


Posted on June 6, 2012  /  7 Comments

Is it that the Top of the Pyramid is more into multi-SIM use than the BOP? It appears from the report that multi-SIM use may be higher than was reported by Teleuse@BOP4. Or, it could be indicating that multi-SIM use is on the increase, with greater availability of multi-SIM handsets.

CyberMedia Research (CMR), a computer and electronic market research firm said 35 of percent of handsets sold in 2011 could have more than one network connected (multi-subscriber identity module).

Around 5.4 percent or 110,000 units out of 2.03 million were smart phones.

The firm does not count hand carried or grey market and only tracks units shipped by original equipment manufacturers to retailers for sale in Sri Lanka.

By end 2011, Sri Lanka, a country of 20 million people had 18.3 million mobile subscribers which grew 6.1 percent from a year earlier. Amid competition, price conscious mobile users were buying more than one package.

7 Comments


  1. “Is it that the Top of the Pyramid is more into multi-SIM use than the BOP? ”
    But ToP uses smartphones. I haven’t come across smartphones that have multi-sims.

    1. Multi SIM smartphones exist, but are rare. So more accurate to talk about multi-SIMs becoming popular at Middle of the Pyramid.

      1. Sumedha Chandrarathna

        As the regulator TRC should check the quality of the multi SIM phones, coz most of them are coming from China. Radian level , life of the phone is questionable.

  2. Dear Prof. Samarajiva,

    Don’t you think that the TRC should take actions for the custumors who change networks without paying the bill of the existing network? There are people who just buy the package and once there is a bigger bill just shift to another network.

  3. No Managing bad debt is the job of the company not of the regulator. Creating a credit rating bureau is what I suggested to them back in 1998. Now there is one. Report the deadbeats.

  4. Sumedha Chandrarathna

    I think now its high time to introduce number portability to Srilanka. TRC should act in bold way to implement this.

  5. How exactly would the TRC’s regulation of multi-SIM handsets work? Massive recalls?

    Wouldn’t it be more realistic to post information about radiation levels on website and allow people to make up their own minds?