Colombo, Jan 18: Sri Lanka stopped mobile phone
services for nearly half a million users in the island's
embattled east as government troops were locked in combat with
tiger rebels, an official said on Thursday.
Troops battling Tamil Tigers have asked telecom operators
to switch off their networks to prevent guerrillas making use
of mobile phone services for military operations.
"It's a routine request whenever a major operation takes
place," Telecommunications Regulatory Commission Director
General, Kanchana Ratwatte, told media persons today.
Telecom operators said nearly 500,000 subscribers were
switched off, with communication limited to a few fixed line
telephones scattered over the region.
Nearly six million Sri Lankans have access to some form
of telecommunications, of which 4.5 million are mobile phone
users, according to central bank of Sri Lanka figures.
The northern and eastern regions emerged as a hot spot
for telephones when a truce pact was signed in February 2002.
Residents in the northern town of Jaffna became the chattiest
on the island.
A study of telecommunications usage pattern of people
earning less than 100 dollars a month showed that the
residents in the Jaffna peninsula, the heartland of minority
Tamils, used to talk more and also spent more on calls that
others on the island.
"The use of the phone is also more in Jaffna where more
people share a single mobile phone," said Ayesha Zainudeen a
researcher attached to Lirneasia, a private regional
communications think-tank.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, January 18, 2007, 00:00