Friday Dec 19, 2025
Friday Dec 19, 2025
Friday, 19 December 2025 00:26 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Digital Economy Deputy Minister Eng. Eranga Weeraratne
– Pic by Upul Abayasekera
The Government yesterday raised approximately Rs. 10 billion from Sri Lanka’s 5G spectrum auction, with Dialog Axiata PLC and SLT-Mobitel, a unit of Sri Lanka Telecom PLC, emerging as the sole bidders and being awarded spectrum licences.
The spectrum certificates were handed over at a ceremony attended by Digital Economy Deputy Minister Eng. Eranga Weeraratne and Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) Director-General Air Vice Marshal (Retd.) Bandula Herath.
The auction followed the issuance of the Final Notice of Assignment by the TRCSL in October, formally launching Sri Lanka’s first commercial 5G spectrum allocation after years of regulatory preparation. Spectrum was offered in the 3.5 GHz band, regarded globally as the primary band for wide-area 5G mobile broadband, and the 27 GHz millimetre-wave band, which is suited for ultra-high-capacity, short-range applications. Licences have been issued for a 10-year period under a clock-auction framework.
Addressing the event, Deputy Minister Weeraratne said the successful completion of the auction marked a milestone for Sri Lanka’s digital economy and cleared the way for the launch of commercial 5G services in the near term. He said operators were expected to move quickly to roll out services following the assignment.
He described the process as the largest auction by value in Sri Lanka’s history, stating that it demonstrated a transparent, efficient, and market-based approach to allocating national spectrum resources. He also commended the TRCSL and the tender committee for completing the process within the year.
Weeraratne said 5G would enable a wider range of economic applications beyond faster mobile broadband, including Industry 4.0 use cases such as factory automation, agriculture, and logistics, as well as low-latency services required for telemedicine and autonomous transport. He added that the technology would support the wider adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and cloud computing across the digital economy.
Referring to the rapid growth of satellite-based internet services globally, he said enabling 5G would allow local telecom operators to compete more effectively by offering higher speeds, lower latency, and larger bandwidth, while maintaining affordable access for consumers.
The Deputy Minister also said the Government and the TRCSL were finalising clear and enforceable guidelines on active and passive infrastructure sharing, with technical support from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. He said infrastructure sharing was essential to avoid duplication, ensure fair access to towers and fibre networks, and accelerate the nationwide rollout of 4G and 5G services.
He added that the auction underscored what could be achieved when the Government, regulator, and private sector worked together, and said further engagement with industry stakeholders would follow as Sri Lanka advances its digital economy agenda.
