SLT records explosive growth in broadband connections

M.Z. Saleem General Manager (Consumer Market Development)

National telecommunications carrier SLT is experiencing high demand for its superior broadband connections available to big corporates, small offices as well as individual home PC users.

Sri Lanka Telecom is currently the only operator which can provide a total solution across the breadth of the entire market and recent key upgrades in its international bandwidth capacity has further strengthened its stronghold. Today given its branding, stature and national infrastructure, SLT is the automatic choice for broadband connections.

“We provide broadband connections via ADSL technology to small offices and home PC users while IP/MPLS network for large customers,” SLT’s General Manager (Consumer Market Development) M.Z. Saleem told The Bottom Line.

Using its existing wired access to almost entirety of Sri Lanka to full use, the SLT’s popular ADSL broadband connection is in growing demand coupled with attractive pricing and efficient service. “We have tailor made packages to both small office and individual home PC users while for the corporates we have flexible and open ended solutions,” Mr. Saleem said.

While there is virtually unlimited capacity for locally hosted content, SLT recently upgraded its international backbone, which is now a commanding 1.5 Giga bps while every three months the capacity is reviewed and upgraded accordingly.

The 1.6 Giga bps upgrade was a follow up to a similar exercise undertaken early this year. The earlier upgrade involved addition of 622Mbps (STM4-Synchronous Transport Module-4) capacity to SLTnet international Internet Protocol Back-Bone (IPBB). SLTnet customers can now enjoy 1.6 Gbps (1500Mbps) of international IPBB capacity with direct connectivity to global ISPs in Asia, Europe and the USA.

Among the many benefits to customers, ranging from all segments of business, along with government and residential customers are high-speed connectivity, service quality, performance, reliability, backup and redundancy via satellite.

SLT provides services such as Dial up internet, ADSL high speed internet, Internet Data Centre (iDC), IP-VPN connectivity, Metro Ethernet services, VoIP service quality. The system also has an assurance for redundancy as it has tied up with world’s tier 1 operators such as AT&T, Verizon and SingTel.

Another major advantage is the SLT’s global connectivity via fibre optic submarine cables systems such as SEA-ME-WE 3, SEA-ME-WE 4, Bharat-Lanka cable, Dhiraagu-SLT cable, and Point of Presence (POP) in Hong Kong through SLT Hong Kong Ltd and the satellite connectivity as the backup solution.

The company has also expanded into its role as a global and regional Internet Service Provider, with regional ISP’s requesting its services. BSNL in India has already requested capacity and is currently in negotiations, along with Maldives, which is expected to come on board with the deployment of the Dhiraagu cable system connecting the Maldives with the world via SLTnet ISP services.

Mr. Saleem said if internet is now firmly established as the information superhighway then broadband is the vehicle in which one can access it. “As the national carrier we have invested in capacity and technology to provide the nation this access,” he added.
In fact the support for the South Asia’s first conference and exhibition on broadband communication is part of this initiative. “We do it as a national obligation and this forum will bring together global and regional expertise and insights on broadband for the benefit of all stakeholders,” he said.

SLT also provides broadband connection via WiFi technology at the Bandarnaike International Airport, and a host of five star and resort hotels in the country. The push to take internet to rural areas is also endeavoured with SLT’s support to the ICT Agency-initiated Nensalas in the country.

Mr. Saleem emphasized that cost of PCs should be lowered if Sri Lanka were to take the full advantage of knowledge economy and the information superhighway. “A large number of people want to benefit from the Internet but the high cost of PCs is a deterrent,” he added.

The need for expediting various ICT initiatives both at macro and micro level was also emphasized by him. He cited Singapore as a model, which is now experimenting free wireless internet for its citizens. “Internet is fast becoming a basic need. The faster, reliable and economical provision of it will also improve productivity and efficiency levels at every sphere,” he added.

SLT is also capable in offering network services, with its Internet services being the only ISP that ran uninterrupted in the aftermath of the Taiwan earthquake. The company also provides simple dial-up, dedicated to broadband Internet services through its ISP SLTnet. 
The company has POPs across the country and this allows its customers to access the Internet for the cost of a local call at special discounts through a single number (1250), and an unmatched backbone bandwidth of 1.5 Gbps (1500Mbps). It currently offers Internet leased lines at 64kbps, 512kbps and 2 Mbps as well as other value added products for business customers such as mail server services, web and the Domain Name Server (DNS) hosting. SLT also provides Internet services to most other ISPs, such as SLTnet Internet exchange service, which provides peering for local ISPs via its SLTIX (SLT Internet Exchange), the IP transit service, which provides direct global Internet connectivity to ISPs as well as other customers.