Celebrating the ‘World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) last week, the national telecommunication service provider – Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) announced the soft launch of its Very-High-Bit-Rate Digital Subscriber Line 2 (VDSL2) advanced fixed broadband technology.

The addition of this new tech means the company’s broadband users could expect speeds of up to 100Mbps.

The newly introduced VDSL2 technology-based fixed broadband, its speed and access capabilities were demonstrated to Telecommunication and Information Technology Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya in the presence of SLT Group CEO Lalith De Silva and many other top officials.

The initial demonstration held at the Sri Lanka Telecom regional office in Kegalle recorded data speeds in excess of 90Mbps.

SLT has plans to expand the services to other regions as well by upgrading its fixed broadband network in the near future.

“The launch of VDSL2 advanced fixed broadband technology at SLT means a boost in broadband speeds of up to 100Mbps. These nearfibre optic level speeds are unmatched to any other broadband service in the country.

This is certainly a welcome upgrade in our stride, considering that the Global Networked Readiness Index (NRI) ranks Sri Lanka only behind India in the SAARC region.

A recent ITU report also refers to Sri Lanka as having a very dynamic broadband market,” SLT Group Chief Executive Officer Lalith De Silva said.

VDSL2 operates over copper lines, just like ADSL and ADSL2+ technologies do, to deliver high speed Internet. However, it has more capabilities which can deliver amazing broadband performance while delivering triple-play services of telephone, broadband and Peo TV.

VDSL2 is the fastest of the DSL provisions of broadband and uses a combination of nodes and existing copper telephone cables to provide the highest available frequency of DSL.

VDSL2 can achieve incredible speeds, as high as up to 100Mbps downstream theoretically. This is much faster than ADSL and ADSL2+ technologies providing up to 16 Mbps downstream at present around the country.