Driving Sri Lanka’s ICT aspirations towards reality

The Information Technology Revolution is radically affecting not only our day to day lives but also the trajectory of a country’s development. The manner in which share information, address development and the manner in which governments, NGOS, businesses and institutions conducts business, are all affected by the state of the information technology infrastructure available. Because of this individuals, corporations and state level entities have all jumped on the bandwagon to make technology a part of the institutional processes.

‘ICT for development’ is one of the key areas of the sustainable development goals set by the United Nations, and especially in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development internet gateway on science and technology for development. According to Professor Vijaya Kumar of the Peradeniya University’s who served as the chair of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development ICTS provide developing countries with an opportunity to increase efficiency in public administration and the business arena, enhance industrial productivity, and promote competitiveness in trade and commerce.

However, the academic also noted that most developing countries have neither the infrastructure nor the human resources necessary to fully exploit the potential of ICTS. ICTS are often limited to urban areas, even where facilities are available, while the costs of ICTS are high when compared with the incomes earned by most citizens of developing countries. He also observed that therefore the digital divide only deprives opportunities for the economically challenged or poorer countries, barring them from opportunities available. It also deprives poorer citizens within these states of the benefits of ICTS, the professor said.

It is evident, that if done correctly, a country is capable of reaching its development goals hand in hand with digital economic transformation, when ICTS are made part of the society, economy and governance. Sri Lanka especially has many opportunities in this area, with potential to achieve greater heights in traditional industries, if digital transformation strategies are employed.

In neighbouring India, over the last decade, the country has emerged as an IT hub for major

‘ICT for development’ is one of the key areas of the sustainable development goals set by the United Nations, and especially in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development internet gateway on science and technology for development.

Multi National Companies across the world, while Indian software companies have marked its presence in the global IT industry. The country has also become one of the world’s largest sourcing destinations, contributing to the rapid growth of the industry. Consecutive Sri Lankan governments have taken notes and have attempted to introduce various mechanisms to promote a similar growth trajectory in Sri Lanka.

However in order to compete with big players in the region such as India, Sri Lanka needs to create an environment of being an attractive destination for foreign investments. In the post pandemic era, Sri Lanka’s successful fight against the COVID-19 pandemic is a major plus point in delivering services with no barriers. The country therefore needs to utilize these key elements in pitching itself as a competitive and attractive destination for key ITC services.

Focusing on domestic developments, Sri Lanka being a developed country must address its connectivity challenges that hamper the its ICT development goals. In addition it must also address the gaps in ICT training to achieve the expected quality of services across state and non-state service providers. A root cause for some of these challenges are the lack of financial resources, human resources and the absence of conducive and effective state policies to drive digital skills development. If Sri Lanka is to achieve better results in its ambitions to become an attractive IT hub, some of these key domestic issues must be address first.

Sri Lanka’s Apex body in ICT development, the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) has outlined its plans to connect 3,500 government organisations and buildings with a minimum bandwidth of 100Mbps. According to the organisation this will be further expanded up-to 7,500 locations by connecting country’s post office network. The ambition is to have these locations facilitated with WI-FI zones, in order to create an environment where citizens are able to use government services with ease and convenience.

Such projects are expected to curb costs especially in the state sector, eliminating the need for paper based communication and documentation which has existed for decades in the country. By moving towards digital communication and documentation, the available government network is expected to improve efficiency in service and ultimately contribute to the betterment of citizen satisfaction and employee satisfaction.

Digital transformation is a vital driver for Sri Lanka’s industrial growth and greater productivity, while advanced telecom and ICT technologies are critical foundation enablers for Sri Lanka’s ICT development aspirations.

Sri Lanka’s strengths in this field must be appraised, its digital advances prioritized and best practices leveraged through measurements, transparency, and collaborations. In order to focused on digital economy-driving programs such as the IT industry’s development, start-up ecosystem Development, technology diffusion, capacity building, and regional cluster development, as outlined in the ICTA’S Digital Economy Strategy, are on target and will be critical in driving Sri Lanka’s digital transformation.