Colombo eSIM
In Colombo you connect to Dialog or Mobitel, whichever is performing better where you are standing. The typical speed across the country is 27 Mbps. Your data starts working the moment you land, before you reach the immigration hall.
- Networks
- Dialog and Mobitel
- Typical speed in Sri Lanka
- 27 Mbps typical, 6 Mbps at busy times
- 5G
- 4G only
- Throttle
- None on metered plans
- Tethering
- Allowed on every plan
Plans that cover Colombo
| Data | Validity | Price per GB | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | Never expires | $6.89 | $6.89 | |
| 3 GB | Never expires | $4.30 | $12.89 | |
| 5 GBMost travellers | Never expires | $3.38 | $16.89 | |
| 10 GB | Never expires | $2.49 | $24.89 | |
| 20 GB | Never expires | $2.14 | $42.89 |
How Sri Lanka compares across Asia
- Regional typical speed
- 42.95 Mbps
- Upstream networks
- 2, Dialog, Mobitel
- 5G
- 4G only
- Next fastest nearby
- Bangladesh, 28 Mbps
- Next slowest nearby
- Laos, 26 Mbps
- Cities with their own page
- 3: Colombo, Kandy, Galle
Landing at Bandaranaike International Airport (CMB)
- Airport
- CMB / VCBI
- Distance
- 33 km from the centre of Colombo
- SIM on arrival
- SIM counters or vending in the terminalDialog says two of its airport stores sit right after the customs desk in the arrival lobby and that a passport must be presented to activate a prepaid SIM. SLT-Mobitel says its counters are in the arrival lobby and only a foreign passport is needed.
- Also serves
- Colombo International Airport, Ratmalana (RML)
Getting into Colombo
- Airport coach service to Colombo via the expressway (CMB)
- E03 Colombo-Katunayake Expressway (CMB)
Worth knowing about Colombo
- The main international airport is 32.5 km north of Colombo at Katunayake; the E03 expressway covers it in roughly 20 to 30 minutes.
- The Airport Express train to Colombo Fort has been suspended since April 2024, so the coach that leaves the terminal every 15 minutes is the public transport option.
- Colombo has a second airport, Ratmalana, 15 km south of the centre, which handles domestic services and resumed limited international flying in March 2022 after 55 years.
- Dialog says two of its airport stores are right after the customs desk in the arrival lobby at Bandaranaike International Airport, and that a passport must be presented for verification to activate a prepaid SIM.
- SLT-Mobitel states its Tourist SIM needs only a foreign passport and is sold at its counters in the Bandaranaike arrival lobby, at Mattala Rajapaksa and Jaffna airports, and at any SLT-Mobitel outlet.
- The SLT-Mobitel airport arrival lounge branch is at H1, Arrival Public Concourse, Bandaranaike International Airport, and lists 24 hour opening on weekdays, Saturday and Sunday.
- The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka states approval must be obtained to import or bring any mobile phone or device that connects to cellular networks with a SIM, and only five units may be brought for personal use.
- Sri Lanka Telecom says the landing stations for SEA-ME-WE 4 and SEA-ME-WE 3 are at Colombo and Mount Lavinia via branch connectivity, while a SEA-ME-WE 5 station at Matara gives a double landing.
- Sri Lanka Railways links to Pravesha, an authorised smart ticketing site and mobile app that issues QR e-tickets for commuter and season tickets and takes Visa and Mastercard. It warns that commuter e-tickets are not valid on intercity trains.
- The Kelani Valley line runs 58 km from Colombo Fort to Avissawella with 25 stations. Built as a narrow gauge line from 1902, it reopened as broad gauge to Avissawella in 1996.
- The Coastal line runs 157.88 km from Colombo Fort south to Beliatta, passing Slave Island. Services to Matara began on 17 December 1895.
- The Ministry of Transport's Colombo Suburban Railway electrification project covers doubling the Kelani Valley line from Maradana to Padukka, widening Maradana to Ragama to four lines, and the coast line to Kalutara.
- Colombo Port City describes itself as Sri Lanka's first foreign currency designated Special Economic Zone, with the Colombo Port City Economic Commission acting as its single window investment facilitator.
- Colombo is the commercial centre but not the legislative capital. Sri Lanka formally moved its administrative capital to adjacent Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte in 1982, where the Parliament building was inaugurated on 29 April 1982.