Airtel Lanka reaffirms commitment to customers during challenging times

Airtel Lanka CEO Ashish Chandra 

In the wake of ongoing economic hardship faced by Sri Lankan consumers, the island’s most preferred telco among youth, Airtel Lanka, in a statement yesterday reiterated its commitment to stand by its customers in difficult times, and hold to its promise of delivering maximum value for nation’s fast-growing base of mobile users.

Airtel Lanka CEO Ashish Chandra said: “From the time we first commenced operations in Sri Lanka more than a decade ago, Airtel Lanka has been driven by a single mission; to deliver a world class network experience, while ensuring we deliver maximum value and superior customer service. Especially in the past three years, we have steadily delivered on this promise, as evidenced by the roll-out of a complete suite industry-first innovations of pre and post-paid packages that have helped shift the entire market towards offering users the best possible deal.” 

“We stand firm in our commitment to our customers, and in supporting them through this period of challenges in the Sri Lankan economy. Our aim is to continue easing their burden and ensure that affordability never becomes an obstacle for our customers who rely on our world-class network to stay connected with their studies, work, friends, and family,” added Chandra.

Over the past year, Airtel has enjoyed the strongest growth in the Sri Lankan telco sector, has more users flocked to their pioneering pre and post-paid offers, as evidenced by over 1.1 million users that switched over to Airtel Freedom packs 

Among the most recent Airtel offerings to take the market by storm has been the Airtel 888 Unlimited Freedom Plus pack which was the first in Sri Lanka to offer unlimited voice calls to any Airtel number, unlimited access to Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, and YouTube, and a generous data allocation, all valid for 30 days. This package has struck a chord with customers seeking a comprehensive and affordable connectivity solution. 

“Within just a few months of launch, a staggering number of customers have switched over to this pack, with more users coming on board every day. Interestingly, over 50% of activations were from youth, reinforcing Airtel’s position as the people’s brand, especially among Sri Lanka’s youth. We are also careful to continuously assess the needs of our customers and upgrade our offerings, based on their app usage preferences. That is how we ensure that products like Airtel 888 pack are always value laden, and designed around the needs of our users; hence, we have recently enhanced the 888 pack by adding three more apps to its unlimited social media portfolio. Thus making it the strongest product offering currently in the market,” Chandra explained. 

Notably, Airtel was the first telco in Sri Lanka to offer unlimited calls to any network in the post-paid market, following its earlier introduction of the same feature for prepaid users through the Freedom Unlimited packs. As part of its mission to revolutionise the Sri Lankan mobile industry by providing maximum value to customers, Airtel introduced the Unlimited 1098 postpaid plan, priced at Rs. 1,098 offering unlimited voice calls to any network, along with 40GB of 4G anytime data, full HD quality video streaming, social media and SMS facilities to meet monthly requirements.

Since implementing significant upgrades to its network, powered by state-of-the-art 5G-ready infrastructure, Airtel has consistently redefined the Sri Lankan telco market. The company has launched a flurry of innovative products, engaged in socially driven partnerships aimed at empowering Sri Lanka’s youth, and advocated for progressive industry policies to ensure a more vibrant future for the Sri Lankan telco sector.

Airtel Lanka’s efforts to empower Sri Lankan telco customers have also made it a powerful telco trendsetter, with all industry players having since emulated Airtel on several ‘industry-firsts’. These include Airtel’s extremely popular post-paid Data Rollover option, as well as the introduction of Unlimited Calls bundled with generous data allocations of up to 30GB of free data.   

Airtel Lanka’s ‘Data Rollover’ feature enables post-paid users to carry-over of unused data to the next month, accumulating up to 200GB. This feature allows users to enjoy unrestricted HD quality social media, work from home, and downloads while saving data and expenses.

Airtel has also significantly expanded its customer service footprint, by offering facilities like SIM change, bill payment, reconnection and a host of other facilities across 25,000 retail outlets across the island. 

Airtel Lanka commenced commercial operations of services in Sri Lanka in 2009 and was the fastest operator to reach 1 million customers. Registered under the Board of Investment in Sri Lanka, Airtel has committed significant investments towards delivering an enhanced 4G experience leveraging state-of-the-art infrastructure and a 5G-ready network to provide world-class mobile broadband experiences island-wide.