Updated on Thursday, January 18, 2007, 00:00 IST

Colombo, Jan 18: Sri Lanka stopped mobile phone services for nearly half a million users in the island's embattled east as government troops were locked in combat with tiger rebels, an official said on Thursday.

Troops battling Tamil Tigers have asked telecom operators to switch off their networks to prevent guerrillas making use of mobile phone services for military operations.

"It's a routine request whenever a major operation takes place," Telecommunications Regulatory Commission Director General, Kanchana Ratwatte, told media persons today.

Telecom operators said nearly 500,000 subscribers were switched off, with communication limited to a few fixed line telephones scattered over the region.

Nearly six million Sri Lankans have access to some form of telecommunications, of which 4.5 million are mobile phone users, according to central bank of Sri Lanka figures.

The northern and eastern regions emerged as a hot spot for telephones when a truce pact was signed in February 2002. Residents in the northern town of Jaffna became the chattiest on the island.

A study of telecommunications usage pattern of people earning less than 100 dollars a month showed that the residents in the Jaffna peninsula, the heartland of minority Tamils, used to talk more and also spent more on calls that others on the island.

"The use of the phone is also more in Jaffna where more people share a single mobile phone," said Ayesha Zainudeen a researcher attached to Lirneasia, a private regional communications think-tank.

Bureau Report