Colombo, May 1 (IANS): The mobile telephone users in Sri Lanka have increased rapidly over the year 2011 with more than 105 telephone connections for 100 people, authorities said Tuesday.

According to a Central Bank annual report, telephone connections have increased 5.4 percent and the connections increased to 21.9 million by the end of 2011, a spokesperson from the Central Bank said.

"There is also a considerable increase in the internet connections as new connections have increased by 4 percent over the year 2011," he stated.

The country's population is estimated at 21.4 million.

He said the increase in the mobile phone use in the country is partly due to the end of three decades of civil war in the northern and eastern parts of the country, reported Xinhua.

Many of the new connections are obtained by those who were in the former war affected parts of the country and the competition in the mobile telephone connection providers has also increased the number of new connections in the country.

A recent study also revealed that the use of mobile phones has grown rapidly among the poor in Sri Lanka and the mobile phone has become an almost indispensable business tool among small entrepreneurs and farmers.