Post
Sri Lanka has both regular government post offices which exist in every village (at least at sub post office level) and agency post offices (privately run post offices0 in most big towns. For information on postal rates contact: - The General Post Office, Janadhipathi Mawatha, Colombo 1, Ph: 326203.
Sri Lanka has a good Post Restante system and the Colombo GPO holds mail for 2 months.
Telephones
Inland: Colombo and most provincial towns are connected by direct dialling. Dial the stations code followed by the subscribers number. For calling numbers within the same exchange do not dial the code.
STD Codes
(Direct Dialing within Sri Lanka)
Anuradhapura - 025
Avissawella - 036
Ampara - 063
Badulla - 055
Bandarawela - 057
Batticaloa - 065
Chilaw - 032
Colombo - 01
Jaffna - 021
Mannar - 023
Vavuniya - 024
Trincomalee - 026
Polonnaruwa - 027
Matale - 066
Negombo - 031
Gampala - 033
Galle - 09
Matara - 041
Hambantota - 047
Nawalapitiya - 0 542
Hatton - 051
Kalutara - 034
Kalmunai - 067
Kandy - 08
Kegalle - 035
kurunugela - 037
Ratnapura - 045
Nuwara Eliya - 052
Where direct dialling is not available trunk calls have to be booked through the exchange. For trunk bookings in Colombo call 101. Refer to directory for numbers in other areas. There are no off ‘peak’ rates in Sri Lanka for inland calls.
International: International direct dialling is available to most countries from Colombo and other cities via satellite. In case direct dialling is not available calls have to be booked from the exchange for a minimum of 3 minutes. The cost is cheapest when calling from a private line followed by operator assisted calls from the post office and the costliest if calling from an agency post office or communication center. Collect calls can be made person to person to some countries and station to station or person to person calls can be made to several countries. Dial 134 for international inquiries if dialling within Colombo and 324144/ 329792 if calling from outside Colombo. International telegraph, telex and telephone services are available at the Central Telegraph Office, Duke Street, Colombo 1, Ph. 326267.
Phone Cards: Phone Cards are the convenient way to make inland and international phone calls especially while touring, there are at least three private phone card companies in Sri Lanka - Lanka Pay, Metro-card and Super-card and the government owned Sri Lanka Telecom. The rates are similar between the three private phone companies but you can use one company’s card in only that companies booth. Phone Cards can be bought from shops near pay phone kiosks and the minimum cost of a card is Rs. 100. The cheapest rates are offered by Sri Lanka Telecom.
Cellular Phones: Three mobile telephone services are operating in Sri Lanka serving the Colombo area and Kandy. Their services are being extended to transmissions corridors from Colombo to Galle, Colombo to Kandy and Nuwara Eliya, Colombo to kurunegala and Colombo to Ratnapura. All three offer different tariffs and service packages.
This page: http://www.cockatoo.com/english/srilanka/srilanka_communication.htm
