| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded | 12th January 2009 |
| Headquarters | Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Key people | Sharan Shetty(Acting CEO) |
| Products | Mobile Services |
| Revenue | 117.213 billion (US$2.23 billion) (2010) [1] |
| Operating income | 21.771 billion (US$413.65 million) (2010)[1] |
| Net income | 18.282 billion (US$347.36 million) (2010)[1] |
| Total assets | 856.142 billion (US$16.27 billion) (2010) [1] |
| Total equity |
502.603 billion (US$9.55 billion) (2010)
Note:All figures include India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka operations |
| Parent | Bharti Airtel |
| Subsidiaries | Bharti Infratel Lanka (Private) Limited |
| Website | Official Website |
Airtel Lanka is the brand name of mobile network operator, Bharti Airtel Lanka (Pvt.) Ltd, the Sri Lankan subsidiary of Bharti Airtel. The company was awarded a mobile phone operator license in 2006 and was scheduled to start operations in early 2007, however the company didn't commence services until 12 January 2009.[2]
Airtel Sri Lanka had over 1.5 million customers at the end of September 2011.[3]
Contents |
MNC: 413 05 Operator code: 075
Airtel Lanka Limited is a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel Limited, the fifth largest mobile operator in the world, with approximately 200 million mobile customers as of October 2010.[4]. Bharti Airtel has been featured in Forbes Asia's Fab 50 list, rated amongst the best performing companies in the world in the BusinessWeek IT 100 list 2007, and voted as India's most innovative company in a survey by The Wall Street Journal
Airtel Sri Lanka commenced commercial operations of services on 13 January 2009. Granted a license in 2007 in accordance with the Sri Lanka Telecommunications Act No. 25 of 1991, it is also a registered company under the Board of Investment Sri Lanka. Under the license, the company provides digital mobile services to Sri Lanka. This is inclusive of voice telephony, voice mail, data services and GSM based services. All of these services are provided under the airtel brand.
Airtel Sri Lanka as nationwide coverage and holds 1.4 million subscribers as of September 2010.
Before launching services officially, Airtel opened up their branch offices island wide and allowed customers to book their number beforehand. Forms were given at all branch offices and customers were given an option of choosing five numbers, out of which one number was given based on availability. This booking system started on January 5 and was expected to close on January 9 but all numbers had been booked by January 8, according to notices displayed on the doors of the branch offices.
| Locality | Address |
|---|---|
| Avissawella | 05 Colombo Road |
| Borella | 1189 Maradana Road |
| Chilaw | 02 Colombo Road |
| Colombo-3 | A5 Super Market Building |
| Colombo-11 | 212 Main Street |
| Dehiwella | 8/1 Galle Road |
| Gampaha | 57 Bauddhaloka Mawatha |
| Ja Ela | 180, Pushpawansa Building, Colombo Road |
| Kaduwela | 455/2 New Kandy Road |
| Kalutara | 161 Main Street |
| Kandy | 127 Peradeniya Road. |
| Karapitiya | 241 Labuduwa Road |
| Kegalle | 199 Main Street |
| Kiribathgoda | 8/1 Kandy Road |
| Kurunegala | 44 Negombo Road |
| Maharagama | 61 High Level Road |
| Matara | 61B, Galle Rd, Matara |
| Negombo | 41 De Cross Road |
| Panadura | 35 Horana Road |
| Puttalam | 39B Kurunegala Road |
| Ratnapura | 269 Main Street |
| Wellawatte | 35 Galle Road |
Airtel currently uses GSM and UMTS/HSPA technologies.
Initially Airtel was offering cheapest Mobile broadband plans starting at 5GB for Rs.299/- but later it discontinued due lack of International bandwidth and financial loss it had incurred. Only major cities like Colombo, Kandy , Galle, Ampara and Jaffna are covered by 3.5G network.
Airtel is improving their GSM coverage rapidly and they have 1000+ Base Station on operation island-wide, but they have slow steps to expand their 3G coverage ever since their launch. Airtel started their service in Northern Sri Lanka on October 2010 and subsequently they broandband was available Aug 2011 in Jaffna district.
Airtel Sri Lanka received many legal threats from other operators as Airtel started to offer cheaper call rates. This led the industry to a price war and all operators including Airtel itself had posted a significant loss in the year of 2009.
On July 15, 2010, TRC (Telecommunication Regulation Commission) implemented a floor price to all the operators to overcome the price war. All the operators increased their call charges except Airtel which filed Fundamental Rights Petition in Supreme Court on July 19, 2010 saying that this new floor price is unfair to the newcomer to the industry. But, this petition got rejected by the Supreme court.
So, Airtel revised their tariff on August 3, 2010 for new customers, as previously they offered 49 cents/min within the network now it's Rs. 1/min and no changes to other network call as they offered Rs. 2/min earlier also.