SLT holds “TelcoNext - Empowering the Digital Economy, together” forum
Sri Lanka Telecom successfully presented one of the globally emerging topics of the Digital Economy, through a knowledge sharing programme themed, “TelcoNext - Empowering the Digital Economy, Together”. The programme was held at the Cinnamon Lakeside Colombo recently with the participation of a large number of tech savvy professionals in the corporate, IT, BPO, BPM, public sectors as well as academics in Sri Lanka.
The programme addressed areas pertaining to the much talked of ‘Digital Economy’ supported with global trends, Digital Sri Lanka initiatives, IoT implementation, hyperconnectivity, digital services, competitor behaviour, softwarisation and virtualisation of the operators to face future demands. By modernizing the ICT infrastructure, which is the backbone of the digital economy, both Sri Lanka Telecom and Mobitel presented the promising capabilities to create greater agility to accelerate e-commerce market development in Sri Lanka.
During the forum, the keynote speaker Eng. Anuradha Udunuwara addressing the gathering said, “The success of startups today is mainly because of the readiness of the modern ICT infrastructure and platforms already built by operators in the country, which is the backbone of the digital economy. On the other hand operators should not look at startups as threats to their traditional businesses, and operators should make collaborations in their long term business strategies instead of competing.” Eng. Anuradha Udunuwara is a visiting Industrial Fellow of the University of Hertfordshire UK, Faculty of Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization UK, a guest lecturer at the University of Peradeniya and also a senior telecommunications expert. The panellist was Eng. Rasantha Hettithanthrige, Senior General Manager, Engineering & Operations at Mobitel and the moderator was Dr. Shamil Appathurai, who serves as an advisor and lecturer at the Sri Lanka Technology Campus (SLTC) and is also the Head of Network Strategy & Transformation at Mobitel.