Etisalat (

Sinhalese Sinhala may refer to: * Something of or related to the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka * Sinhalese people * Sinhala language, one of the three official languages used in Sri Lanka * Sinhala script, a writing system for the Sinhala language ** Sinha ...

: එටිසලාට් ''Etisalat'';

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

: எடிசலாட்) (formerly known as Celltel and later Tigo), was a

mobile telecommunications Mobile telephony is the provision of telephone services to phones which may move around freely rather than stay fixed in one location. Telephony is supposed to specifically point to a voice-only service or connection, though sometimes the l ...

network in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. It was owned by the

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

based telecommunications operator

Etisalat Etisalat by e& is an Emirati-based multinational telecommunications services provider, currently operating in 16 countries across Asia, the Middle East and Africa. It is the 18th largest mobile network operator in the world by number of subscri ...

until December 2018. Etisalat had over 4.2 million customers at the end of February 2012. The company announced the commercial launch of Dual Carrier HSPA+ services on 15 August 2012, becoming the first operator in South Asia to do so. In April 2018 CK Hutchison Group and Etisalat Group have entered into a definitive agreement to merge their mobile telecommunications businesses in Sri Lanka. Upon completion of the transaction, CKHH Group will have the majority and controlling stake in the combined entity.Hutch-Etisalat merger will ease competitive pressure: Fitch
/ref> CK Hutchison completed the acquisition of Etisalat Lanka on 30 November 2018.

History

Celltel and Tigo

Celltel was founded on 18 June 1989 on a Motorola

TACS Total Access Communication System (TACS) and ETACS are variants of Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) which were announced as the choice for the first two UK national cellular systems in February 1983, less than a year after the UK government an ...

system, becoming the first cellular network in Sri Lanka and 36th operator in world. It was then re-branded by Millicom International in January 2007, as Tigo (Sri Lanka). then it was acquired by Etisalat.

Acquisition by Etisalat

Etisalat acquired Sri Lankan operations of Millicom International (Tigo Sri Lanka). The acquisition was completed with a total

enterprise value Enterprise value (EV), total enterprise value (TEV), or firm value (FV) is an economic measure reflecting the market value of a business (i.e. as distinct from market price). It is a sum of claims by all claimants: creditors (secured and unsecured) ...

of 207 Million US$, out of which 155 Million US$ was in cash. Etisalat changed the Operator/Brand Name Tigo to Etisalat on 25 February 2010.

Acquisition by Hutch

In April 2018

CK Hutchison Holdings CK Hutchison Holdings Limited is a Hong Kong-based and Cayman Islands-registered multinational conglomerate corporation. The company was formed in March 2015 through the merger of Cheung Kong Holdings and its main associate company Hutchison Wh ...

and Etisalat Group have entered into a definitive agreement to merge their mobile telecommunications businesses in Sri Lanka. Upon completion of the transaction, CKHH Group will have the majority and controlling stake in the combined entity. CK Hutchison completed the acquisition of Etisalat Lanka on 30 November 2018.

Competition

Before the acquisition by Hutch, the operator competed with other mobile operators

Dialog Axiata Dialog Axiata PLC ( si, ඩයලොග් ආසිආටා පීඑල්සී, Ḍayalog Āsiāṭā PīElSī, ta, டயலொக் ஆசியாடா பிஎல்சி) (formerly known as MTN Networks and later Dialog Telekom), i ...

, Mobitel,

Hutch Hutch may refer to: Places * Hutch, Kentucky, an unincorporated community located in Bell County, Kentucky, United States * Hutchinson, Kansas ("Hutch"), a city in Kansas, United States * Hutchinson, Minnesota ("Hutch"), a city in Minnesota, U ...

and

Airtel Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as (d/b/a) Airtel, is an Indian multinational telecommunications services company based in New Delhi. It operates in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa, as well as the Channel Islands. Current ...

Technology

Etisalat Lanka operated a

GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such ...

EDGE Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...

supported network using 900 / 1800 MHz. The company on 5 May 2011 launched

HSPA+ Evolved High Speed Packet Access, HSPA+, HSPA (Plus) or HSPAP, is a technical standard for wireless broadband telecommunication. It is the second phase of HSPA which has been introduced in 3GPP release 7 and being further improved in later 3GPP ...

services over 2100 MHz, becoming a LTE ready mobile network in the country. The company announced the commercial launch of

DC-HSPA+ Evolved High Speed Packet Access, HSPA+, HSPA (Plus) or HSPAP, is a technical standard for wireless broadband telecommunication. It is the second phase of HSPA which has been introduced in 3GPP release 7 and being further improved in later 3GPP ...

service on 15 August 2012, was the first operator in the South Asian region and the 63rd in the world to do so. http://maps.mobileworldlive.com/network.php?cid=251&cname=Sri%20Lanka

Slogan

The slogan of the company was "power to you".

References

External links

Celltel – Internet ArchiveTigo – Internet ArchiveEtisalat Lanka – Internet ArchiveAcquisition by Hutch
{{Telecommunications in Sri Lanka 2018 disestablishments in Sri Lanka Mobile telecommunications networks Telecommunications companies of Sri Lanka Sri Lankan companies established in 1989 Telecommunications companies established in 1989