Bharti to start Lanka services by year-end

Bharti Airtel hopes to start providing services in Sri Lanka by the end of this year. Besides 2G, the firm is currently testing 3G services in the island.

"We will roll out both 2G and 3G network throughout Sri Lanka. The roll out will replicate the model currently followed in India," a source close to the development said. The company will initially start with Colombo and thereafter move to other towns and rural areas, he added.

Bharti has tied up with Huawei Technologies to build and manage GSM mobile infrastructure in Sri Lanka. Huawei will deploy and manage Airtel's core network, BTS and end-to-end 2G/3G network solutions. About 80% of Sri Lanka's mobile market is controlled by Dialog Telekom, a unit of Telekom Malaysia. "We will soon take a decision on the handset company with which we can tie up for bundled offers," the source said.

Meanwhile, Bharti intends to cover around 85% of India's rural population by the year-end. "We will expand in clusters to reach remote villages," said K Srinivas, Bharti executive director (east hub & Sri Lanka). Bharti currently enjoys 28.5% market share in eastern India. "We have already identified the areas that need to be covered," K Srinivas added.

Source: timesofindia