Sri Lanka to formulate national IT brand policy and plan

By Zahara Zuhair
Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure Ministry Secretary Wasantha Deshapriya said that together with Telecommunication Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL), they are hoping to formulate a national IT brand policy and plan before the end of this year, as the country lacks a benchmark for digital transformation.

He said that though in supplying side there were so many ways to transform the industry by adopting various technologies, in Sri Lanka the demand side was still very low.
“So that one problem is content such as gaming as well as video, video is going to be one of the key content areas, but we do not have it, “ he said
“Second point is E- government policy, National ICT policy. I’m hopeful that we would see that before end of this year. Previous version had that every government,  organisation should  be connected to Lanka government  network. It is going to be providing broadband connections in 3 years to 7500 government  organisations  connected with minimum of  20 MBs, this should cater to a huge demand,” he added.

ICTA Chairperson, Chitranganie Mubarak said that based on the statement made by the Prime Minster made at the parliament of digitising the economy  and for taking the digital world to schoolchildren right across the country, their  goal was to create a digital inclusive Sri Lanka.
“We all are working very hard to make sure this goal is met, and that we leverage on ICT, to take Sri Lanka to the next stage of development. So in this context what we should we be doing is empowering our citizens digitally,” she said.
She said that they have planned  programmes for building capacity for women entrepreneurs using ICT and  as well as social circles, which will be based on the Grama Niladari.

Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure Minister Harin Fernando said that in order to face increased challenges with behavioural  and ethical issues of digital transformation, such as cyber bullying, inappropriate sharing, ICTA was taking a great effort together with their  ministry in protecting the citizens in this cyber space.

Promising that 2017 will be an impressive year in the digital space for Sri Lanka, he said that next year, on the digital space, Sri Lanka was going to go right on top, as the connectivity in Sri Lanka was going to have some  new innovations.

“We need to brace the new technology, need to grab the opportunity. When the loon was looming , people were not happy with loon, but when the loon works, the whole country will be connected with 4G technology  right across the country,” he said.
He said that they initiating were several projects such as providing 100 digital classrooms this year, and providing tablets for 100 schools for students starting from grade 9.