Lanka Bell ties up with FLAG Telecom in undersea cable project

Lanka Bell said this week it had entered into an agreement with FLAG Telecom, a 100% subsidiary of India’s Reliance Communications, to bring Sri Lanka on the 65,000 km long FLAG Global Network.

Under the US$ 27 million agreement, FLAG Telecom’s FALCON Cable system will lay an undersea cable from its landing station on the southern coastline at Trivandrum to Colombo.

The extensive optical fibre network will seamlessly connect with the 88,000 km long Reliance domestic terrestrial network covering the length and breadth of India.

Through Mumbai it will provide abundant and high quality international connectivity in 38 countries across six continents through key business markets in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the USA.

Managing Director Lanka Bell Suren Goonewardene said that as a fully Sri Lankan owned corporate, Lanka Bell is committed to offering high quality telecom services to the fast growing requirements of enterprise and retail customers in Sri Lanka.

“This tie up with FLAG Telecom means high speed data and Internet access, and far superior quality IDD facilities to several thousands of customers all over the country.

Once completed next year, the undersea cable link will enable us to offer them direct global connectivity and a complete end-to-end solution”, Goonewardene added.

The local telecom sector has grown in leaps and bounds over the last few years and currently counts over 4.6 million telecom subscribers out of a total population of over 20 million.

Sri Lanka enjoys significant trade relations with US, UK, India, China, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia, all of which are connected by the fully IP-enabled FLAG Global Network. With nearly a million Sri Lankans working abroad, primarily in the Middle East, Lanka Bell will soon be in a position to offer a superior seamless, reliable and effective means of international connectivity to Sri Lankan citizens across the geographical divide.