Connectivity — Sri Lanka
What travelers need to know about connectivity in Sri Lanka. What is legal at home can be a serious crime here — each rule links to its official source.
Connectivity in Sri Lanka: restricted — there are real limits travelers must follow.
Buy your SIM in person with your passport - anonymous SIMs do not exist, and the operator must cut the line if your documents are not filed within a month of activation. Leave signal jammers, walkie-talkies and satellite phones at home: a 2024 amendment made merely possessing radio-frequency emitting apparatus without a TRCSL licence an offence, punishable by up to three years.
Offences under s.22 (and s.19(1)): on conviction by a Magistrate, a fine of not less than LKR 50,000 and not exceeding LKR 10,000,000, or imprisonment of either description for not less than six months and not exceeding three years, or both; plus LKR 2,000 for each day the offence continues after conviction - s.44(1) of the 1991 Act as replaced by s.29(1) of Act No. 39 of 2024. Wilful interference with a licensed system or licensed apparatus (new s.46A): a fine not exceeding LKR 5,000,000.
§ Sri Lanka Telecommunications (Amendment) Act, No. 39 of 2024, ss.17, 18, 29 and 30 (amending ss.21, 22 and 44 of, and inserting s.46A into, the Sri Lanka Telecommunications Act No. 25 of 1991), published by TRCSL at /legislation/pages_e.php?id=34; read with the Subscriber SIM Cards (SIM) Regulations No. 01 of 2019, Gazette Extraordinary No. 2134/56 of 02.08.2019 (trc.gov.lk/content/files/gazette/SIM_Gazette_E.pdf), and s.22(1) of the principal Act.