SLT expands fibre optic information superhighway to the Northern Peninsula, Sri Lanka

Sept. 1, 2010 - PRLog -- Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), the national telecommunication service provider officially announced the commissioning of its optical fibre cable system connecting the Jaffna peninsula to the south of the country via the A9 main route. Mr. Greg Young, CEO of Sri Lanka Telecom, whilst inspecting the progress of deployments of Killinochchi, commissioned the operation of the fibre optic cable superhighway, completing another milestone in the company’s nation-wide optical fibre network.
As part of its continuing network investment to support the growing demand for communication services, Sri Lanka Telecom initiated, after the end of the conflict, this fibre optic cable project to connect Mannar, Vavuniya, Trincomalee and Jaffna along the A9 main road. In addition new telephone exchanges at  Mankulam and Mulathivu, located in the Northern part of Sri Lanka, will enhance basic communication facilities and Broadband coverage for customers in the areas.
These new telephone exchanges are part of SLT’s ongoing effort to drive innovation and extend its Broadband network throughout the island. It is also part of the Company’s ongoing investment to build networks that will fuel economic growth, create new business opportunities, develop existing businesses and create new job opportunities whilst bringing state of the art telecommunications to all communities across the country.
The primary infrastructure of all modern telecommunication networks is high speed and ultra reliable Optical Fiber cables that connect all parts of a nationwide network. Accordingly SLT has identified the importance of constructing this basic infrastructure to connect the Northern part of the country. This is a parallel development work with the “Uthuru Wasanthaya” programme of GOSL.
Accordingly plans have been made and Phase 1 has been identified and already completed as the starting point of developments. Mainly it includes fibre optic transmission projects, connecting Vavunia to Killinochchi and Killinochchi to Jaffna. Phase 1 of the project has been 100% completed  with a 177km length of optical fibre cable connection laid along the A9 road. Under this project Jaffna, Manipay, Sitthankerny, Chunnakam, Kopay, Chavakachcheri and Nelliady areas have already been connected to the SLT Broadband network through optical fibre connectivity. From these locations, the copper access network has been expanded to customer premises in the area.  
SLT’s core network constitutes an unmatched fibre optic network, spanning the length and breadth of Sri Lanka, and delivering the Company’s telecommunication services including voice communication facility and broadband internet & interactive television services using ADSL technology. Up until now, SLT’s optical fibre network had been expanded to Vavuniya and Mannar in the Northern Province. Due to the conflict situation in the country, communication facilities to the Northern area including Jaffna was provided with limited connectivity through microwave links from Mannar. With the termination of the war and the opening up of the Northern and Eastern provinces, SLT immediately set about the task of expanding its broadband network up to the Jaffna peninsula in order to connect the people in this area to the rest of the country through fast, reliable and unmatched ICT services.

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Sri Lanka Telecom, the number one integrated communications service provider in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka Telecom (www.slt.lk) is one of the country’s most valuable blue chip companies with an annual group turnover in excess of Rs 40 billion. Whilst Global Telecommunications Holdings N.V. of Netherlands owns a 44.98 % stake in Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), 49.5% is owned by the Government of Sri Lanka and the balance shares are remaining with general public. The company is rated by Fitch Rating on the following scales – Long Term Foreign Currency Rating - “B+” , Long Term Local Currency Rating - “BB-“ , and National Long Term Rating – “AAA(lka)”. Further more the company has also been rated by Standard and Poor for both long term Corporate Credit Rating and Long term Debt Rating at “B+”, which is one notch above the country rating.