How cellular services started here - Sri Lanka

'Communications Come of Age with South Asia's First Cellular Network!' This was the headlines in newspapers on June 19, 1989 to mark the launching of cellular mobile services in Sri Lanka and in fact the first in South Asia.


The sophisticated are getting more interested in data than voice.That was two decades ago, but to see people of all ages pushing buttons on their handheld mobile phones sending SMS messages or making calls has now become a very common sight. The sophisticated seem to be getting more interested in data rather than voice, exchanging e-mails and browsing the internet and even conducting commercial transactions (m-commerce) while on the move using their Third Generation (3G or 3.5 G) phones.
Hardly will they realize that their forefathers had to undergo immense difficulties and long delays just to make a simple telephone call or send a message by telegram.
How did all this happen in just 20 years? On this World Telecommunication Day which falls on May 17, it is therefore worthwhile looking back to reflect how all this massive evolution in technology and more so its adaptation in our country materialized in this comparatively short period.


When cellular mobile radio was introduced nearly two decades ago, mobile radio was nothing new in our country, but of course was limited to point to point or point to multipoint communications such as used by taxi service or the Police. Quickshaws operated a radio call taxi service decades ago.
However there was no capability of calling a station selectively or access to the public telephone network.
Having realized the need to open up avenues for the cellular mobile radio systems to launch their services, the then Posts and Telecommunications Minister Alick Aluvihare initiated the notification of regulations under the Telecommunications Ordinance to allow the operation of such systems in Sri Lanka.


This enabled the Telecommunications Department as the Regulator to issue a license to Celltel Lanka Ltd, a Sri Lanka/Sweden/USA joint venture company with Comvik of Sweden and Millicom of USA which seized the opportunity and initiated action to launch the services on the 900MHz band with equipment supplied by Motorola of USA.


At that time three systems, namely, Nordic Mobile Phone System (NMT), Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) and Total Access Communication System (TACS) were widely used and Celltel Ltd (later Tigo and now Etisalat) adopted TACS which was a development on the AMPS system.


As the system had to interwork with the existing network, a team of engineers from the Telecom Department visited Motorola in USA and worked out the technical specifications for proper interworking.

It was on the June 30, 1989 that Celltel Ltd put in to commercial operation the first cellular mobile network in South Asia with the commissioning of their Mobile Telephone Exchange (MTX) along with four base stations located in Colombo, Seeduwa, Athurigiriya and Moratuwa to cover an area of about 35 km radius from Colombo in the initial phase, while Kandy and Galle areas were covered in subsequent phases.


The launch coincided with the commissioning of the new E-10B digital exchange in Colombo to which the MTX had direct access to interconnect calls between the cellular subscribers and other telephone connections of the Telecommunication Department which was the sole operator in Sri Lanka with all other subscribers being connected to its network. This created a fascinating experience for us for upto that time it was only a dream that one could make a telephone call while on the move and 'without wires', rather 'wireless'.


Of course there was one big hurdle: the enormous cost, the handheld the size of a nine inch brick costing over Rs 125,000 (about $4000 at the prevailing rate ) and a portable to be carried over the shoulder about Rs 50,000. The prices of handsets have dropped drastically due to continuous technological evolution and massive production volumes which had made the mobile phone an affordable tool. The modest start up with one operator and may be a hundred customers had now grown to almost 12 million outpacing the fixed lines almost three times.
Seeing people pushing buttons on their small handheld phones by the roadside though unimaginable then has now become a reality. When properly used it saves so much time and money and thus has become an indispensable tool without which one cannot even carry on his or her business. The service rendered and the affordability of the mobile services to all and sundry has made mobile communication inclusive to all sectors of public life.
You may wonder how the technological evolution has revolutionized the telecom industry especially in Mobile Broadband, and watch out, there is much more in store to come with the Fourth Generation (4G) and Long Term Evolution (LTE) tapping at the door!

Source: Daily News by P K Wickramarachchi