Telecom Lead Asia: The total value of the mobile phones
shipped in the Sri Lanka market during CY 2011 aggregated to LKR 22.4 Billion ($202.7
million), according to CyberMedia Research.

In the overall Sri Lanka mobile handsets market, Nokia
emerged as the market leader with a 46 percent share, followed by Samsung at
second position with 22 percent and Micromax at third position with 16 percent,
in terms of unit sales during CY 2011.

 

Sri Lanka Mobile Handset Shipments (millions of units), CY
2011

 

Multi-SIM mobile handset shipments accounted for 35 percent
of the total Sri Lanka mobile handsets market during CY 2011. Micromax emerged
market leader in the category with a 37.3 percent share of unit shipments in CY
2011, followed by Nokia and Samsung with 24.6 percent and 15.9 percent shares,
respectively.

Shares of Leading Vendors in Multi-SIM Mobile Handsets

 

 

Sri Lanka, the first country in South Asia to introduce 3G
services in August 2006, is poised for significant growth in its
telecommunications sector, buoyed by the end of the civil war in 2009.

 

Total 3G phone shipments in Sri Lanka touched nearly 0.32
million units during CY 2011. Nokia emerged as the market leader in this
category with a 53.2 percent share of units shipped, followed by Samsung and
Sony-Ericsson with 25.6 percent and 7.7 percent, respectively.

 

Shares of vendors in 3G Phones

 

With the spread of 3G services to all major cities Sri Lanka
consumers would look to acquire and use more feature rich mobile handsets, thus
fueling greater demand for higher generation air interface devices. This is an
opportunity that vendors and service providers can exploit by bringing to
market attractive value-for-money device-plus-service packages.

Smartphone shipments touched 0.11 million units in Sri Lanka
during calendar year 2011. Samsung emerged as the leader in the smartphone
segment with a 27.6 percent share of shipments in CY 2011, followed by Nokia
with 25.4 percent. HTC occupied third place with an 11.4 percent market share.

 

Shares of Vendors in Smartphones, CY 2011

 

The Average Selling Values of smartphones during CY 2011 was
LKR 45,350 (US$ 410). Android emerged as the leading smartphone OS with a
49.9 percent share of shipments in 2011.

 

Vendors would do well to introduce handsets that support
Sinhalese, as Sri Lanka would be a natural market for the same. Further, given
the wet and humid climatic conditions that prevail in most parts of the country
for most of the year, there could be a latent demand for water and moisture
resistant handsets.

With increasing operator focus on data revenues and better
3G coverage the share of smartphones is likely to increase and consequently the
number of models on offer from smartphone vendors are also expected to go up in
2012.

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