New era in Sri Lankan communications

[June 20, 2003 - 10.00 GMT]  

A new era in Sri Lankan communications was introduced yesterday when Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) started the first phase of its plan to innovative broadband access technologies for residential and business customers.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was gifted a connection by SLT Chairman Thilanga Sumithipala yesterday.

ADSL or Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line is essentially a continuously open data line to an Internet Service Provider that works over conventional telephone lines. It also allows the ability to transfer a higher rate of data over voice/date lines that exist in every home due to a new technology called Discrete Multi Tone (DMT), which facilitates the transmission of high-speed data.

This makes it possible to simultaneously access normal telephone services and Broadband Internet such as audio and video over SLT customer’s existing telephone lines. According to a communiqué this is due to the “always on” connection, so there’s no waiting to log on.

This means unlimited access with no time restrictions at a flat monthly rate, flexibility to use the phone and surf the Internet at the same time, increased and augmented access to a range of content and service providers, and a higher speed which is more than 30 times faster than a normal connection.

ADSL's asymmetric flows of download and upload streams make SLT ADSL Internet surfing technology in Sri Lanka. In conventional Internet browsing, download and upload streams are symmetric, hence consumes an equal amount of bandwidth.

But the nature of Internet browsing requires a bigger bandwidth for downloading and a smaller bandwidth for uploading, because the upload stream carries only internet user’s request to the web server whilst download streams bring the request content to the user.

ADSL technology provides users with the required capabilities necessary for optimal net browsing. It provides higher download speed than upload speed from the ADSL home Express Package, 512 Kbps/download/128Kbps upload while the ADSL Office Express Package offers 2Mbps download/512 Kbps upload.

According to SLT ADSL will initially be available to homes and companies in Colombo and Greater Colombo, with Katunayake being the next step in the rollout plan. Each connection will take approximately two weeks to set up with a one-time fee for connection. An ADSL modem needed can be purchased at any SLT Teleshop. After the initial connection there will be a flat monthly fee on the basis of ADSL Home or Office Express Package. This is separate from the telephone bill for normal telephone calls (voice) taken by the customer.

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Last Updated Date: June 20, 2003  - 10.00 GMT.