The company hit financial difficulty and the senior management has disappeared without paying staff or creditors, the privately-run Sunday Times newspaper here reported.

"An estimated 3,000 to 4,000 of its clients have been affected with the abrupt closing of the business and were caught off guard by the loss of their services," the newspaper said.

Set up in 1994 by a group of Sri Lankans residing in the US and Colombo-based investors, Lanka Internet was the first to connect the South Asian island of 19.5 million people to the information super highway.

Since 1994, more than 25 Internet service providers have started operations in Sri Lanka for a combined 130,000 customers, according to official figures.

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