Via Ami Sampath, I saw that Sri Lanka now has an estimated 2.5 million total internet users, nearly 12% of the population. This is up 47% from last year, which is no joke. Sri Lanka actually has almost island-wide Internet access (through mobile broadband) and decent if never excellent speeds. Mobile phones boomed and saturated here, so those companies have been competing on data, and good thing, because there is demand.
What’s a key takeway? As Ami says:
All in all, I see the 47% YOY growth rate as a loud alarm for some companies in Sri Lanka who delays adapting their brands to Digital Media revolution, citing ‘insignificant internet penetration’ as a reason. (Sri Lanka Reaches Double Digits Internet Penetration Rate)
A lot of companies have adapted and even innovated. For Internet business, now seems to be the time to get in. The Internet users are already there, and their numbers are only growing.
Other Estimates
It’s important to note that these numbers are only estimates. My personal best guess was that there are around 2 million Internet users in Sri Lanka, using information cobbled together from various sources. I was trying to lowball it, and it’s good to see that the official estimate is now closer to 2.5.
At an Etisalat presentation the Huawei Southeast Asia estimated about 1.8 (with 1.22 on Facebook).
Again, the numbers Ami is citing are from the ITU and semi-official. Sri Lanka seems to have about 2.5 million Internet users, reaching double digit Internet penetration for the first time.
The ITU estimates penetration in Sri Lanka (as at 2012) is around 18.29% which would make the overall number to be approximately 4 million. Source: http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Documents/statistics/2013/Individuals_Internet_2000-2012.xls