Social Impact of SMS in Sri Lanka

Though Sri Lanka has a relatively low penetration of fixed (landline) phones, mobile phones have made a significant penetration during last six years. The number of mobile subscribers within the island by the end of 2007 was almost 70 times of the customers reported a decade back. A large number of supplementary services have been introduced with the booming increase in the mobile customer base. Short Message Service (SMS) is one such service that has made a significant penetration in Sri Lankan society. Nowadays, SMS has become the major non verbal communication channel among the general public. The cost effectiveness of the service has lead to its popularity within the country. From simple person to person communication to achieving a confidential bank transaction, a vast range of applications have emerged based on SMS. In this paper, we present how Sri Lanka has adopted to SMS. In particular, we investigate the factors causing the popularity of this service in Sri Lanka and its social impact on the island nation.