Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) marks an early successful completion of its gigantic Regional Telecom Development Project (RTDP) says a press release. The project which began in 1996 was due to be completed next month. SLT being the national telecom service provider, invested Rs. 7,800 million in this development project. Japan Bank for International Corporation (JBIC) provided financial assistance in the form of a loan to the project that covers several districts, bringing regional telecommunication infrastructure development on par with that of urban areas.

The development programme enhanced the capability of the telecommunication transmission network. As a result, customers will be able to enjoy value added services such as SLTnet with a higher quality. In addition to network modernization, these projects added 66,000 loops (primary pairs) and capability of providing 145,000 new telephone lines to the national telecommunications network. 26,000 new connections have already been provided under this&127; project&127;. With the completion of this project, SLT is now able to provide advanced internet protocol (IP) based services even to other service providers, thereby building an IP backbone in the country.

Infrastructure developments made by the project now service Kandy, Kalutara, Matale, Kurunegala, Chilaw, Badulla, Bandarawela, Nuwara Eliya, Ratnapura and Kegalle districts. The RTDP introduced a 700km long first ever optical fibre cable ring to the national telecommunication network which enhances transmission capabilities. The optical fibre cable ring connects 15 cities in four provinces in the island. Modernisation of the existing telecommunication infrastructure is another scope of the RTDP development programme.

Under the project, 79 local telephone exchanges were replaced with modern digital exchanges. Master telephone exchanges such as Kandy, Matale, Katugastota, Kalutara, Bentota, Chilaw, Kurunegala, Badulla, Bandarawela, Nuwara Eliya, Ratnapura and Kegalle were also were modernized by installing new exchanges.