My best guess is 2 million, or about 10%. If you look at connections along, you get about 1.3 million. Why round-up? Well, because multiple people use connections, people connect at work, and the 1.1 million Sri Lankans on Facebook hint at something more. This infographic is nothing fancy, but it shows you various measures compared to Sri Lanka’s population (about 20.6 million). It’s for a bigger article in The Nation this Sunday.
First there’s hardware – there are about 17.4 SIMs in the country, but I have like 4 SIMs myself. Then the HIES measures that about 12.5% of households has a computer, and there are about four people per household.
Then’s there’s connections. The GSMA measures about 1 million active data connections, while the TRC measures about 300,000 mobile broadband and 280,000 fixed connections. That’s where I get the 1.3 million. Take the 1 million for MoBro and 300,000 from fixed. Note that these are connections, though, especially with fixed, multiple people use a connection. I’m also not sure how businesses are measured. You could have 40 people using one connection there.
The final data point is Facebook users. You can see this by going to fb.com/ads and creating an ad (you don’t have to place one). I set the age range to ‘anyone’ and it tells me the potential reach is 1,126,020. That could be duplicates or people not in Sri Lanka, but I think most are authentic.
For me that number and the connections number are too close. If Sri Lanka had 1.3 million users, then 87% of them would be on Facebook. That seems a bit high, and I don’t think connections=people in the first place.
So, my best guess is 2 million Internet users in SL, or about 10% of the population. What do you think?
This will be a larger article in this Sunday’s Nation.
Data sources: A recent report by Helani Galpaya of LIRNEasia (goo.gl/qDQnn) and the Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2009/10 (PDF).
Your guesstimate may be right. Still lot of questions to answer. Consumer vs connection question.
Most of the fixed lines and dongles are used by more than one person. E.g. SLT mega line @ my in-law’s house used by 4 consumers (father, mother, son & daughter) My 1 year old daughter uses internet. Do you count her? I have two connections used only by me (mobile+dongle)
Fb figure is a good starting point. Still my father doesn’t have an fb page though he uses a dongle. I have two fb pages.
Anyway i don’t agree with Helani Galpaya’s figures.
there are 1,126,020 srilankan facebook users.All srilankans who use facebook
46 countries not bad for soenmoe who the doctors told could never leave the USA. =)I would completely enjoy this print hanging anywhere Tom and I end up, as it speaks loudly to me of the power of Faith, Hope , and Love. the colors explode and bring shimmers of joy in a barren land of injustice..it captures you so well Steph!! Congratulations on 100 I am completely sure you will get to the next 105 ..
Coucou Martin! Merci pour ton ptit mot. Alors, comment se passe la vie bonneivlie?Oh non, je ne suis pas presse9e de retourner travailler, j ai 14 mois de libre pour bien profiter! Je ferai une partie en solo, une partie avec une copine, et peut eatre une partie en couple et non, pas de ve9lo! Je ne suis pas assez courageuse pour me lancer dans une aventure comme la votre!Bon voyage, c est sympa de suivre vos aventures sur votre blog! Bises!
Glad you enjoyed Greenville.I actually used to work for Andre, and I’ve heard the stories and rumors, and I am inclined to agree that he bats for our team (other than when he goes on dates with fresh-meat sorority girls).