Neville Lahiru
After days of ambiguous posts about an upcoming broadband offer, SLT has finally unveiled its latest addition to its service, “midnight thriller”. Starting January 1, all SLT home broadband users can surf the internet for free between 12.00 am and 7.00 am. In other words, no data will be deducted from your package during this period.
Over the years, consumers have been requesting unlimited internet, and for a long time, it didn’t seem like it would be a reality. By late 2019, telcos started offering selective unlimited data packages, capping the feature for a particular set of services like streaming and social media packages for an additional charge. Alternatively, users also had the option of opting for unlimited internet that was restricted to a set speed and/or a specific time. But even as the telecom sector moves to 5G, true unlimited internet is still not a reality for Sri Lankan consumers. Amid this environment, SLT has now introduced its own unlimited internet offering for home broadband.
SLT’s midnight thriller
Unsurprisingly, SLT’s “free unlimited internet” ships with one big caveat, specifically its 12.00 am to 7.00 am time frame. While the availability of unlimited internet at no extra charge (excluding the recent VAT increase) is a welcome addition, its specified time frame may be its biggest bottleneck. Users will only be able to surf the internet with no data caps at a time when many general consumers are well away from their productive time. Further, with the 7.00 am cutoff time, users’ free data usage allocation will now only be usable between 7.00 am and 8.00 am, with the exception for uploads.
The company’s earlier teasers also hinted at faster speeds for home broadband users, though SLT hasn’t commented on it since the announcement. It’s also unclear if there’s a specific Fair Usage Policy (FUP) in place during the 12.00 am – 7.00 am period. At the time of writing, the site mentions 300Mbps download and 150Mbps upload speeds for fiber connections.
Interestingly, there also doesn’t seem to be restrictions on the services that can be accessed during the 12.00 am – 7.00 am period. In response to a question about torrenting on a Facebook post, SLT confirmed that there are no restrictions in place for the offering. In fact, even SLT’s own advert mentions “downloading movies,” a phrase that’s synonymous with torrenting. SLT’s unlimited packages typically barrs users from accessing torrents, Telegram, VPNs and peer-to-peer applications. But that doesn’t appear to be the case with “midnight thriller.”
A cautiously optimistic outlook
SLT has come a long way since its free data mishap in 2017. It’s a step in the right direction in terms of adding value to customers and bringing the internet infrastructure closer to true unlimited internet to the general public. Of course, only time will tell if actual unlimited internet ever becomes the norm in Sri Lanka.
In any case, it will be interesting to see how Dialog responds to SLT’s “midnight thriller” add-on. At the time of writing, Dialog’s fiber connections are only open to the enterprise sector, with bandwidths extending up to 10Gbps. However, the company invested USD 152 million in 2022 to improve its infrastructure, which includes upgrading Dialog’s fiber network capabilities. So it might not be long until Dialog counters SLT with home broadband fiber packages of its own.
Update [03/01/2024]: Included SLT’s comments on any restrictions for “midnight thriller”
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