5G Home Broadband in Sri Lanka: A May 2026 Column Says Approval Is Stalled

What the column says

A Daily FT column titled "Is Sri Lanka stalling its own digital future?", dated 27 May 2026, argues that 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), which it calls 5G Home Broadband, is stuck in a regulatory waiting room. It says Dialog and SLT-Mobitel have already paid billions for spectrum rights and are ready to go, and that authorities have not signed off the commercial approvals needed.

Its main arguments

• Rural gap: the column claims 80 percent of Sri Lankans live in rural or suburban areas where fibre optic cables do not exist, and that nearly 40 percent of the population lacks reliable internet access.
• 4G limits: it says 4G home routers in busy areas can crawl along at barely 1 Mbps during peak hours.
• Why 27 GHz suits fixed receivers: it says the high-frequency 27 GHz signals do not travel very far and struggle to go through walls, which makes them poorly suited to a phone on the move but suitable for a fixed receiver on a roof.
• History: it says that between 2013 and 2018, 4G wireless broadband tripled home internet penetration.

Read it carefully

• This is an opinion column. The figures above are the author's, and we have not independently verified them.
• The column says the 2025 spectrum auction brought in over LKR 15 billion. TelecomTV reported about 10 billion rupees. Reports differ, so we do not state an auction total in this post.
• We did not find an official statement from the regulator confirming or explaining the alleged delay, so treat the claim of a stall as unconfirmed.
• Our separate post on the 5G launch covers the facts that were reported at the time.

What you can do

If you want a 5G home connection, ask Dialog or SLT-Mobitel directly whether it is available at your address.

Fact-checked on 30 October 2026 against the sources listed below. Prices and plans change, so confirm with the provider before you buy.