Communication in Sri Lanka

Communication in Sri Lanka is good with landline phones, mobile and internet. Telephone network is excellent in urban and semi-urban areas but inadequate service in rural and remote areas. Hotels generally have excellent wi-fi connections with most hotels offering free wi-fi; also in room wi-fi. Calling from Sri Lanka is relatively cheap but if you need to frequently call then using your own mobile is the most cost-effective. Most UK, Australian and New Zealand mobiles use GSM, which works well in Sri Lanka, but US mobiles (apart from tri-band phones) won’t work. You can replace you SIM card with a new SIM from Sri Lankan company providing you with Sri Lankan phone number. This way domestic rate will apply that comes to as low as Rs. 15 per minute for international calls and around Rs. 5 for local calls. SIM cards can be bought at $10 or less from the myriad phone shops. The main operators are Dialog (w dialog.lk), Mobitel (w mobitel.lk), Etisalat (w etisalat.lk), Airtel (w airtel.lk) and Hutch (w hutch.lk). Without mobile, the easiest way to call is from one of the island’s innumerable communications bureau which are little offices with phone, fax and photocopying services and sometimes email as well (Look out for signs advertising IDD calls).