Sri Lanka’s digital engagement hits new high as data consumption climbs by double digits

• Individual monthly data consumption increased by 11.8% year-on-year, growing from 15.8 GB in late 2024 to 17.7 GB in 3Q 2025  

The Sri Lankan telecommunications industry continued to experience a robust expansion in data consumption during the third quarter of 2025, fuelled by the widespread adoption of smartphones and a shifting preference for integrated digital services. 
According to the latest provisional statistics released by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka, total data usage for the quarter reached 1,155,506 terabytes (TB). This reflects a significant year-on-year increase of 13.5 percent, compared to 1,017,912.2 TB recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2024. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the sector maintained steady momentum, with a 0.98 percent growth over 1,144,247 TB utilised in the second quarter of 2025.
In a noteworthy shift for the digital landscape, the average monthly data usage per person has also climbed substantially. Based on the 2024 mid-year population estimate of 21.916 million and 2025 population derived from cellular density metrics, the average monthly data consumption per inhabitant rose to approximately 17.72 gigabytes (GB) in the third quarter of 2025, up from 15.85 GB in the same period last year. 
This represents an 11.8 percent year-on-year increase in per-capita data consumption, highlighting a deeper digital penetration and higher engagement levels across the population. Mobile data remains the dominant medium, accounting for 797,397 TB of the quarterly total, while fixed broadband usage contributed 358,109 TB.
The surge in data demand is supported by a significant hardware transition, with smartphones and tablets now accounting for 69.6 percent of the total customer end equipment in the market, totalling 18,163,229 devices. Traditional basic and feature phones have seen their share dwindle to 24.9 percent. Furthermore, the subscription base for cellular mobile services reached 29,266,715 by end-September 2025, with 21,711,353 of these being integrated ‘voice and data’ subscriptions. This shift is mirrored in the fixed access segment, where the LTE technology now commands a 63 percent market share, with 2,189,750 connections, while high-speed fibre connections have grown to 500,887, representing 14 percent of total fixed connections.
Digital engagement remains centred around social media, with platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp each boasting over 15.7 million users as of late September 2025. YouTube follows closely with 15.19 million users, while TikTok and Instagram have maintained strong footprints, with 12.07 million and 9.99 million users, respectively. Despite this technological and usage growth, direct employment in the telecommunications sector saw a contraction, falling to 9,099 individuals as of September 2025, compared to 10,567 at end-2023. The regulatory environment remained stable during the period, with 26 system licences in operation across various categories of service. (NF)