Airtel (Sinhala: එයාටෙල්, Tamil: ஏர்டெல்) is the brand name of mobile network operator, Bharti Airtel Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, the Sri Lankan subsidiary of Indian multinational telecommunications company Bharti Airtel. The company was awarded a mobile phone operator license in 2006 and was scheduled to start operations in early 2007, however the company didn't commence services until 12 January 2009. with approximately 2.9 million subscribers of the Sri Lankan mobile market as of March 2022