Sri Lanka’s 5G Rollout: Policy Stalls Threaten $15B Digital Economy Goal 📈

• Overall Situation: Following a successful LKR 15 billion 5G spectrum auction in December 2025, Sri Lanka’s transition to high-speed internet has hit a regulatory bottleneck in Q2 2026. While urban mobile 5G is trickling out, commercial approvals for 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA)—or 5G Home Broadband—remain stalled by the TRCSL. • The Digital Divide: Approximately 80% of Sri Lankans (9 million people) live in rural or suburban areas lacking fibre optic infrastructure. Nearly 40% of the national population still lacks reliable internet access, hindering the country's "National Digital Economy Strategy 2030" target of a USD 15 billion digital GDP. • Market & Sector Impact: • Existing 4G home broadband infrastructure has reached its physical capacity, with peak speeds dropping to 1 Mbps. • Local telecom giants Dialog and SLT-Mobitel have already paid billions for 5G spectrum rights (including Dialog’s high-capacity 27 GHz millimetre-wave spectrum) but are barred from deploying it for home routers. • Industry whispers suggest regulatory delays stem from a desire to protect state-backed fibre investments, despite global trends showing 5G FWA and fibre act as complementary technologies. • Regulatory Contradictions: The current policy chokehold on domestic operators stands in sharp contrast to the rapid 2024 licensing of foreign satellite provider Starlink, whose local operations were recently suspended due to data monitoring and national security concerns. _Note: Summary based on industry analysis and provisional 2026 deployment data._