Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) plans to use mobile technology to provide low-cost fixed line phones in rural areas. The company intends to provide 450,000 new lines using CDMA within the first three years of introducing the service, which will start in February 2006. SLT will compete with two other fixed line operators ?? Suntel, the Sri Lankan arm of Telia of Sweden, and the Sri Lankan-owned operator Lanka Bell ?? which launched similar services in July. SLT is 35 per cent owned and fully managed by Japan’s NTT. The government has a 49 per cent stake in SLT, while employees and the public hold the balance 16 per cent. The money for SLT to invest in CDMA will come from an $80 million investment budget this year and $70 million set aside for next year.
