Bharti, RCL bid for Sri Lanka mobile licence

Reliance Communications and Bharti Airtel are understood to have bid for Sri Lanka's fifth mobile operator licence among other global telecom majors.

While Reliance Communications officials declined to comment, the Bharti spokesperson said: "We are open to opportunities across the globe provided there is a strategic fit and valuations suits us."

Reliance recently had lost a bid for Egypt's third mobile licence race. Bharti has been operating telecom services in Seychelles and British Isles - Jersey.

Maxis Communications, Malaysia's biggest mobile phone company by subscriber numbers, is also believed to have been in the race. SingTel has also bid. The four operators offering GSM services in Sri Lanka are Mobitel owned by Sri Lankan government, Celltel Lanka, Telekom Malaysia-owned by Dialog Telecom and Hutchison.

Telekom Malaysia is the largest GSM operator in the country. In all, over 10 companies have shown interest in the licence and currently the the Lankan Government is examining the bids.

Sri Lanka has a telecom penetration rate of 17.3%. There is also a lack of landline service in the country, which makes mobile services more attractive.