(SLT) The Media Ministry has granted the media broadcasting license to the Sri Lanka’s number one communications provider, Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT).

The country’s communications giant is now able to provide TV and other media services to its customers utilizing IP (Internet Protocol) technologies on existing wire line connectivity. This will be the foundation in the realm of telecommunication and the media convergence. SLT currently posses a robust network which is capable of handling services based on IP technologies : voice, data and video and mobile through the applications of business, education medical care and entertainment.

The Company assures that the setting-up exercise of IPTV will be fun, simple and will require no technical know how or complex equipment. IPTV services will be no more than plug and play. The customers will be able to enjoy TV services through telephone line coming to the customer premises within six months.

IPTV service is expected to take customer experience beyond that of plain TV by integrating multimedia communication technology into the television experience. IPTV customers can use their TV’s to communicate and interact with friends and family through a variety of media, such as voice, instant messaging, video and picture sharing. SLT plans to offer affordable and competitive pricing for the TV packages using IP technology on wire line connectivity along with other value added services.

SLT’s IPTV services will pioneer the IP based TV broadcasting service in Sri Lanka as it being the most popular entertainment media in the world. It will revolutionize the delivery of TV programmes beyond any doubt. In order to deliver DVD quality video on MPEG 4 format IPTV requires an ADSL service of 2 mbps bandwidth. The company already offers ADSL in major cities, but it plans to expand the broadband network to make ADSL available to other regions.

With this initiative, SLT customers will be able to enjoy entertainment services delivered to their home via the same SLT wired connectivity. IPTV enables SLT, the country’s only wire line service providers to offer real-time TV broadcast programming, video-on-demand and other advanced services over broadband connections to televisions.

Sri Lanka Telecom (www.slt.lk) is one of the country’s most valuable blue chip companies with an annual turnover in excess of Rs 40 billion. Whilst NTT Communications Corporation of Japan owns a 35.2% stake in Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), 49.2% is owned by the Government of Sri Lanka and 15.3% is listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange. The company was also awarded an AAA (sri) rating by Fitch Ratings Lanka followed by a BB- international rating by Fitch International.

SLT Group has a customer base of over two million including multinational corporations, large and small corporate, retail and domestic customers. Today with NTT Communications of Japan as a strategic partner, SLT provides facilities and services: voice, data, video and mobile to its customers, which are unmatched in scope. These services range from domestic and international voice, advance data transmission services which include internet services on leased lines, broadband [on ADSL] and dial up, data circuits, frame relay solutions to IP services such as IP-VPN based on IP-MPLS technology, total corporate solutions of multiple services, satellite uplink services and mobile telephony through the fully owned subsidiary Mobitel.

With a view to making Sri Lanka a broadband island, SLT is in the process of introducing the necessary infrastructure in the form of NGN [Next Generation Networks] using optical fibre backbone and broadband services such as IMS, IPTV etc. SLT also provides high speed global connectivity to countries in the South Asian region through its investments in international submarine cables such as SMW3, SMW4 and the Bharat Lanka submarine cable [between India and Sri Lanka] and Dhirragu-SLT submarine cable system between Maldives Islands and Sri Lanka. Newly incorporate SLT Hong Kong Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of Sri Lanka Telecom, fully geared to provide services such as IP transit, IPVPN, IPLC and International voice traffic transit services to global telecom operators and corporates in Hong Kong.