By Charles Haviland BBC News, Colombo

	People in the north have been largely unable to listen to terrestrial broadcasts for over two decades

This has happened after President Mahinda Rajapaksa opened a large broadcasting and telecoms tower on the site of another tower which was destroyed by the Tamil Tiger separatists more than 20 years ago.

A man in northern Sri Lanka’s biggest city, Jaffna, told the BBC that for the past two decades people have been largely unable to listen to terrestrial broadcasts, including both government and private channels on television and radio.

They have relied on cable and satellite transmissions including many from southern India.

Government's message

That is now likely to change after the opening of a huge transmission tower, 175 metres tall, near the northern town of Mankulam.

The government media say the tower will improve internet and phone services, and will also serve military communications – which is a key factor in a part of the country which is still largely run by the armed forces.

A senior telecoms official said the administration now had a chance to explain to northerners what he termed “the government’s massive development drive”.

State broadcasters in Sri Lanka are extremely heavy on propaganda but the private ones are less so and they, too, should be easier to receive.

It is all a far cry from just a few years ago when the Tamil Tigers used the same site to broadcast their own separatist war propaganda, despite having blown up the main tower.