Trading name Mobitel | Type Subsidiary | |
Native name මොබිටෙල් (ප්රයිවට්) ලිමිටඩ් Industry Mobile Telecommunications Predecessor OTC Australia (Pvt) Ltd Founded 1993 (1993) in Colombo, Sri Lanka | ||
Mobitel (Sinhalese: මොබිටෙල්; Tamil: மொபிடெல்) is the National Mobile Service Provider in Sri Lanka. The network offers a variety of services and currently operates GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSPA, HSPA+, DC-HSPA+ and FD-LTE network utilising 2G, 3.5G and 4G technologies. It covers most of Sri Lanka with its GSM network. Mobitel offers both prepaid and postpaid mobile services, along with mobile broadband services using the 3.5G network and postpaid mobile services, along with mobile broadband services using the 4G network. Mobitel also launched Mobile Money services on November 2013 which is called mCash making the mobile phone a financial instrument. The service is licensed by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL).
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About Mobitel
Mobitel, Sri Lanka's National Mobile Service Provider, which started operations in 1993, became a wholly owned subsidiary of SLT in October 2002.
In January 2004, the company launched its fully-fledged 2.5G GSM network that is EDGE/GPRS enabled and designed to operate on dual band. In December 2007, the company launched its 3.5G HSPA network - the first Super 3.5G network in South Asia. Further, Mobitel successfully demonstrated HSPA + MIMO technology with down link speed up to 28.8 Mbit/s and carried out successful trial of 4G/LTE technology with downlink speed exceeding 96 Mbit/s, for the first time in the South Asian Region. Investments committed to date in the 2.5G/3.5G/4G networks and service offering amounts to over US$ 500mn.
History
Mobitel was incorporated in 1993 as the third mobile telephone provider in the Sri Lankan market. Originally a collaboration between Sri Lanka Telecom and Telstra, Mobitel has been wholly owned by SLT since November 2002.
Following the successful implementation and operation of an AMPS/TDMA network in the country, Mobitel launched its GSM operations in January 2004 with the deployment of a fully fledged GSM network in the 800 MHz and 1800 MHz band, which is EDGE/GPRS enabled. In 2005 and 2006, Mobitel traded the 800 MHz band for slots made available from the 900 MHz spectrum. With this enhancement, Mobitel embarked on a field trial of 3G at the 1st International Buddhist Conference held in 2006, setting the stage for the launch of its 3G services in Sri Lanka.
Investments committed to date for this technology to provide 3G and GSM totals over US$ 200 million. This included increasing the present number of base stations from 600 to 1,500 by the end of 2008{README, 2012}.
Network
Mobitel currently operates a 4G LTE network with downlink speeds of up to 100 Mbit/s and uplink speed up to 50 Mbit/s. It is also serving customers with over 3000 GSM and 1200 3.5G base stations islandwide.
Global
Mobitel provides international services with GSM roaming coverage of over 200 countries and GPRS roaming coverage of over 120 countries including bilateral partnerships with global carriers.
Value Added Services
Mobitel offers a variety of value added services: